The Journals Of Andre Gide (vol-i)

The Journals of

ANDRE gide

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH,
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY

Justin O’Brien

London

SECKER & WARBURG
1951

Martin Seeker 6- Warburg, Ltd , 7 John Street, Bloomsbury, W C 1

Copyright 1951 by Alfred A Knopf 9 Inc
Printed tn the United States of America

INTRODUCTION

BY

JUSTIN O’BRIEN

I heartily scorn/* Andre Gide wrote at the age of sixty-one m his
Journal for January 1931, "that sort of wisdom which is attained only
through cooling off or lassitude ” We must not then expect to find him,
even twenty years later, soothing himself or his reader with the maxims
of senility In this, the fourth volume of his Journals , written between
his seventieth year and his eightieth, his mmd has lost neither its in-
cisive vigor nor its vital warmth We find here the same disciplined in-
telligence freely expressmg itself, equally removed from facility and
dryness, in a constantly maturing thought as far from smugness as from
feverish restlessness Ever in contact with life, that intelligence has
maintained a perpetual ardor — the hard, gemlike ferveur that his Fruits
of the Earth extolled over fifty years ago This is doubtless the secret
of Gide’s perennial youth and of his undimmished favor with the
young

Rich with the lessons of experience, a man m his eighth decade
must of necessity take many a backward glance The second World
War naturally suggests parallels with the first one, voluntary exile from
France and loved ones recalls the past and even the dead Problems en-
countered m writing and fresh attacks launched by his enemies cause
him to review his judgments of earher works m 1942, for instance, and
again m 1946 he reconsiders the significance, effectiveness, and ar-
tistic achievement of his Corydon and again returns to that book
through an interviewer s indiscreet question at the time of the Nobel
Prize Several times he turns back to the period of his flirtation with
Communism, the better to define the misunderstanding that led to his
position of the early thirties And the postwar emphasis, largely among
the existentialists, on the necessity of committing oneself and writing a
“htterature engagSe” leads him to re-examme his past commitments
and eventually to issue, m 1950, under the ironic title of Litterature
engagee a collection of his tendentious and polemical writings, all of
which he considers as extra-literary Indeed, he had already noted here
in mid-1940

"The social question! If I had encountered that great trap at
the beginning of my career, I should never have written anything
worth while ”

But, like his own Theseus venturing into the unknown while un-
winding, m the form of Ariadne’s thread, his tie with the past and tra-

V1 Introduction

dition, Andre Gide finds it more natural to look forward Even m the
early stages of the war he foresees with remarkable clarity the postwar
plight of France, elsewhere he reflects on the literature and art of the
future Despite his extensive travels and those he undertakes the mo-
ment Tunis is liberated, he deplores the fact that the map is still
studded with territories unknown to him Finally, but without dread
or false solemnity, he frequently meditates on death and the possi-
bility of an afterlife Some of the finest pages of this last Journal , m
fact, reflect a serene contemplation of his own — of everyman’s — fu-
ture

Nothing is perhaps more characteristic of Andr6 Gide than this
consistently healthy forward-looking attitude Not altogether lightly,
he early identified himself with Prometheus, who revolted against the
gods and communicated to man 'the devouring belief m progress”
That active belief has never left him Recognizing his inaptitude for
contemplative stagnation, he can state at seventy-three that "Real old
age would be giving up hope of progress ” Thus it is that, smiling at
his impulse to improve himself so late m life, he continues the study of
German, exercises his memory by learning hundreds of lines of French
verse by heart, and, rediscovering Virgil, devotes three or four hours
a day to the arduous and delightful deciphering of Latin His mmd al-
ways open and alert, he rereads the French classics and Shakespeare
and Goethe and Euripides, often revising his impressions with star-
tling results And, leaving the mam highway, he exploies such diverse
writers as Cyril Tourneur, Eichendorff, Grimmelshausen, James Hogg,
Dashiell Hammett, Pearl Buck, Jorge Amado, and Ernst Junger In his
eightieth year we find him discussing the latest volume by Sartre,
catching up on the contemporary dramatists, disputing with Koestler
and James Burnham Simultaneously he can become captivated, as m
the past, by a new treatise on radioactivity, a study of the metamor-
phoses of sea animals, a history of Moslem customs, or a revolutionary
approach to surgery A lively curiosity has always been one of his
dominant characteristics

Because these last ten years cover the period of the second World
War, the reader might justly expect that conflict and the occupation of
France to play a large part m Andre Gide’s reflections from day to day
In the beginning, however, he deliberately planned to omit events,
noting that thought was most - valid when it could not be modified by
circumstances In September 1940 he reflected that "The number of
stupidities an intelligent person can say m a day is not believable* And
I should probably say just as many as others if I were not more often
silent” In contrast to the invasion of the timely, to the anguish result-
ing from current events, there is always the timeless, to be found m
the classics of art and literature In an article dated 1936, he had writ-

Introduction

vii

ten "I have a great need to maintain in myself the feeling of perma-
nence, I mean a need of feeling that there are human products invul-
nerable to msults and degradation, works on which tempoial changes
have no influence ” But viewed without perspective the timeless often
appears to be merely the untimely, to some it may seem shockmg that
only a month after the French defeat of 1940 Gide could momentarily
forget his country's tribulation by reading Goethe m the original
Throughout the Journals , to be sure, from 1889 to 1949, thoughts out
of season abound Unzeitgemasse Betrachtungen , to borrow from Nie-
tzsche a title that Gide obviously likes Almost equally frequent are
statements to the effect that the artist is "out of harmony with his time 5 ’
and that this constitutes his raison ditre "He counteracts, he initiates
And this is partly why he is so often understood at first by but a few"
(6 July 1937)

Yet, whether m the south of France for the first two and a half years
of the war or m North Africa for the duration, Gide is unable to main-
tain here such an ideal aloofness Never do his Journals come so close
to journalism — "I call ‘journalism’ everything that will be less interest-
ing tomorrow than today,” he wrote in 1921 — as during the long siege
of T uni s m 1942-3 There we have a marginal history of events re-
corded by an eyewitness whose vision was necessarily limited, a sort of
Journal of the Plague Year with all the dispassionate, flat reportage of
Defoe’s document There is, mdeed, for us who were on the outside,
a fascination m sharing the intimate feelings of a particularly sensitive
person on the inside of the vast concentration camp set up by Hitler
Despite Gide’s effort to heighten and enliven that account by a running
description of little Victor, a portable microcosm of all that was dis-
tasteful m the world around him, none the less this is the part of the
Journals that will doubtless age least well Several times in recent years
AndxS Gide has expressed the desire for simultaneous publication of
those pages m French and English, m the naive hope, unshared by his
French publisher, that such a delicate attention would somewhat miti-
gate the stmg of his remarks about the American forces m Tunisia But
Americans are hardly so susceptible as not to appreciate such frank-
ness, the men who took part m the North African campaign should be
interested in the way they looked to those they were about to liberate,
especially as that view changed so drastically upon contact

During the decade from 1939 to 1949 Andre Gide’s creative ac-
tivity did not slacken, for he wrote (in addition to this Journal) the
Imaginary Interviews , a play entitled Robert ou T inter et general, a
book on Paul ValSry, his Autumn Leaves , and Theseus , which should
soon come to be considered as one of his major works Meanwhile he
fi nis hed his inspired translation of Hamlet , compiled an Anthology of
French Poetry , wrote several prefaces, including that for the collected

V1H

Introduction

edition of Goethe’s drama, and with Jean-Louis Barrault adapted to
the stage Kafka’s The Trial — besides working on still unrealized film-
scenarios of his novels Isabelle and Les Caves du Vatican One of the
last entries in this volume (4 June 1949) states “Some days it seems
to me that if I had at hand a good pen, good ink, and good paper, I
should without difficulty write a masterpiece ”

An index of Gide’s continuing vitality can be found as readily in the
attacks directed against him as m his own production Throughout his
long career he has been the object of frequent, often savage assaults
If they are lemembered at all in literary history, some of his accusers,
such as Henri Beraud, Jean de Gourmont, Rene Johannet, Camille
Mauclair, Eugene Montfort, and Victor Poucel, will receive mention
only for the crude shafts they aimed at Gide Others, like Francis
Jammes and Henri Massis, have sullied their reputations by contribut-
ing to the picturesque and fanciful Gide legend But, despite the in-
tention of such critics, they did not buiy their enemy very deep Dur-
ing and after the recent war the weight of his years did not keep him
from serving frequently as whipping-boy As early as July 1940 an
anonymous journalist in Le Temps accused him of exerting a baneful
influence on youth and contributing to form a “deliquescent geneia-
tion ” A year later, m California, Fernand Baldenspergei blamed such
demoralizers as Gide and Proust for the French defeat In January
1942 Rene Gillouin echoed in Geneva an unfounded accusation of
Gide’s having led a susceptible young reader to suicide Hardly had
Paris been liberated when Louis Aragon, the literary spokesman of the
French Communist Party, which cannot forget Gide’s return from Mos-
cow, repeated the charge of antipatriotism and defeatism made m die
Provisional Consultative Assembly m Algiers by a certain Giovom (see
Appendix II) Soon thereafter Julien Benda and Edmond Buchet sepa-
rately accused Gide of anti-intellectualism and Alexandnamsm, some-
what as Arthur Koestler was to do in English Probably the most cate-
gone crushing of Gide was found in an interview with the Catholic
Pf* a t ^temporary and early fnend, published m

March 1947 From the artistic point of view, from the intellectual
point of view, Gide is worthless,” said Claudel

Gide himself is more equitable toward his former friend, for m
February 1943 he noted in the Journals

There is and always will be m France (except under the urgent threat
of * common danger) division and parties, in other words, dialogue Thanks
to that the fine equilibrium of our culture equilibrium in diversity. Always

ValSf ° pposrte , a , PascaI ’ and > m our time, opposite a Claudel, a

Bn 3n« L r S r e *7 V T S preVaJs m stren gth and magnificence

But woe to the times when the other is reduced to silence! The free mind

has the superiority of not wanting to be alone in enjoying the right to speak ”

Introduction

ix

If there could have been any doubt before, it must now be recog-
nized, smce the publication last year of the correspondence between
Claudel and Gide, that to the world at large the name of Paul Valery is
less appiopnate in the foregoing passage than would be that of Andre
Gide

Another important Catholic writer, Frangois Mauriac, who has
never ceased to admire and to acknowledge his debt to Gide, seems to
have recognized this when, writing m the Figaro about certain pages
detached from the latest Journal , he finds Gide’s thought "serenely ag-
gressive as on his finest days” and regrets that "this elderly Faust, who
is so dear to us, should fix himself permanently in the definitive affirma-
tion that man must be put in the place of God ”

Coming from the pen of Mauriac, the expression "serenely aggres-
sive” is most appropriate In his eighth decade Andre Gide has
achieved a measure of serenity, manifest in his Theseus and Autumn
Leaves as well as m this Journal One thinks of the Olympian serenity
of Goethe, Gide’s lifelong companion, and notes with pleasure that
during the ten years covered by this volume Gide reread both the
Conversations with Eckermann and Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson ,
as if recognizing the company in which he belongs In fact, the com-
plete Journals, representing sixty years of a varied life, form one pro-
longed mtimate conversation, a single, often interrupted dialogue of
the author with himself Such a document precludes the necessity of
any other interlocutor, after all, Montaigne had neither Boswell nor
Eckermann The serenity to which Gide has attained is that of a dy-
namic equilibrium between opposmg tendencies within him, the clas-
sic balance toward which he has tended smce youth Yet, even today,
there is nothing static about this condition, as the author notes m this
Journal "The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest,
tends toward serenity ”

On the last page of this installment of his Journals , Andre Gide has
scribbled a note implying that he has forever ceased to keep a journal
If this is the end of his long and nch self-scrutiny, the final distillation
of his reflections on man and the universe, what definitive revelation
or ultimate message does it contain for his readers? Those who have
followed him this far know him better than to expect such a thing or
be surprised by his note of 15 December 1948

" Last words I do not see why one should try to pronounce

them louder than the others At least I do not feel the need of do-
ing so ”

I should like to take this occasion to thank those who have contrib-
uted valuable information to the notes and the Glossary of Persons of
all four volumes, and notably to Andr6 Gide himself, always most gra-

Introduction

cious and most helpful, to Jean Amrouche, Yvonne Davet, Julien
Green, Richard Heyd, Dr F Jonas, Jean Malaquais, Roger Martm du
Card, Adrienne Monmer, Jules Mouquet, Arnold Naville, Maurice
Saillet, Roland Saucier, Jacques Schiffrm, and Herbert Wemstock To
such colleagues at Columbia University as Jean-Albert Bede, Otis
Fellows, Andre von Gronicka, James Gutmann, Henry Hatfield, Gilbert
Highet, Jean Hytier, Edwin B Matzke, Kurt Pmthus, Norman L Tor-
rey, and Mark Van Doren, and to my former pupils Renee Lang and
William S Rogers, I express the same warm gratitude

Canterbury , Connecticut , September 1950

CONTENTS

Introduction page v

Journal 1939 3

Journal 1940 10

Journal 1941 55

Recovered Pages 91

Journal 1942 96

Journal 1943 146

Journal 1944 229

Journal 1945 250

Journal 1946 256

Journal 1947 274

Autumn Leaves 275

Journal 1948 282

Journal 1949 297

Appendix I Foreword to Pages de Journal 307

Appendix II Proceedings of the Provisional Con-
sultative Assembly (Algiers, 7 July 1944) 308

Appendix III Letter from Mme Berthe Zuckerkandl 310
Glossary of Persons 311

The Works of AndrS Gide 335

Index ]

l follow page 341

Index to Gide 9 s Works

ERRATA

Page 239, seventh line of footnote should read
Dormant leurs corps , et la vertu

Page 270, first line of footnote should read
31 “I gave way and, taking up my father, sought the mountains is the

The Journals of

D R E G I

VOLUME IV 1939-1949

10 September

Y

X es, all that might well disappear, that cultural effort which seemed
to us wonderful (and I am not speaking merely of the French effort)
At the rate at which we are going, there will soon not be many to feel
the need of it, to understand it, not many left to notice that it is no
longer understood

One strives and strains one’s ingenuity to shelter those treasures
from destruction, no shelter is safe A bomb can do away with a mu-
seum There is no acropolis that the flood of barbariamsm cannot
reach, no ark that it cannot eventually sink
One clmgs to wreckage

11 September

My body is not so worn out that life with it has ceased to be bear-
able But as for giving a reason, an aim to ones life Everything is
suspended m uncertainty

War is here In order to escape its obsession, I am gomg over and
learning long passages of Phddre and of Athalie I am readmg The
Atheist's Tragedy of Cyril Tourneur and EichendorfFs Taugenichts 1
But the oil lamp throws a poor light, I must close the book and my
mmd returns to its anguish, to its interrogation Is this the twilight or
the dawn?

19 September

I doubt if I have ever enjoyed more propitious conditions But my
mmd is open only to anguish I do not even try to escape the preoccu-
pations besieging us In this dreadful struggle now begmnmg, every-
thing for which we live is at stake, and the sacrifice of those dearest
to us may not be able to save those values One would like to put them
m safekeepmg, like the stained-glass windows of the churches, but
those very precautions isolate and detach them from life, they are be-
ginning to become like objects m museums, which will perhaps survive
the catastrophe, to be found later on with amazement

I have forsaken Racine, these last few days, for La Fontame and
learned by heart agam some ten of the fables La Fontaine’s perfection

1 The Atheist's Tragedy first appeared m 1611 Aus dem Leben ernes
Taugenichts ( The Happy-Go-Lucky , or Leaves from the Life of a Good-for-
Nothmg) by the German romantic poet Joseph von Eichendorff dates from
1826

^ Journal 1939

is more subtle but no less exigent than Racine’s, it fills less space with
an apparently more negligent art, but one has only to give it sufficient
attention the touch is so discreet that it might go unnoticed Nothing
is farther from the romantic insistence It goes on at once, and if you
have not understood, that’s just too bad It is impossible to imagine a
more discreet, apparently less intentional art To such a degree that
one wonders if one is not sometimes adding to it, if La Fontame is
really conscious himself, m certain lines or expressions, of all the emo-
tion they contain, one is also aware of an element of cunning and that
one must enter into the spirit of the game at the risk of not altogether
understanding him, for he takes nothing seriously Oh, how fai we are
from the war with him I

I wondered, m Andromaque, at how little Racine was bothered by
the repetition of the same words

Verce de tant de coups, comment t’es-tu sauve ?

Tiens 1 Tiens 1 Voild, le coup que je t’ai reserve

And three lines later

Elle vient I’arracher au coup qm le menace

Or agam

Venez -vous m’enlever dans Veternelle nmt?

Venez

I could quote many other examples

And at first I told myself yes, this is true of Andromaque Later on,
Racine was more difficult But no, I find these same repetitions like-
wise m PMdre

CEnone, prends pitie de ma jalouse rage
and four lines later

Dans mes jaloux transports

Yet the examples become much rarer, and I am not even finding
any for the moment Moreover, I do not see that by avoiding them
Racine’s perfection would have been much increased, I even like the
fact that it is a fundamental rather than a mere surface perfection The
only thing I can manage to regret, m Phddre particularly, is the some-
what too frequent use of the epithets “just” or “unjust,” which fill up
the gaps with ease “an unjust stepmother,” “a just terror,” “unjust re-
proaches,” all m the same group of lines (or should one see here an in-
dication in Phaedra’s character, inherited from Minos, of the obsession
for justice?) But is not the most admirable thing m Racine's style pre-
cisely that apparent ease and the fact that not a single word appears to
have been sought after?

Everything m his behavior seemed to say since he has ceased to
love me, nothing matters to me But I still loved him and, indeed, I had

Journal 1939 5

never loved him so much, but it was no longer possible for me to prove
it to him That was by far the worst of it

SO October

No, decidedly, I shall not speak on the radio I shall not contribute
to pumping oxygen mto the public The newspapers already contam
enough patriotic yappings The more French I feel, the more loath I
am to let my mind be warped If it regimented itself, it would lose all
value

I doubt that it is very fair to write, as Lucien Jacques did m 1914
or 1915, about certain particularly ridiculous utterances "Is it so hard
to keep silent' 3 ” and am aware how pamful silence is when ones heart
is overflowing, but I do not want to have to blush tomorrow for what
I should write today Yet if I keep silent, this is not because of pride,
I am almost inclined to say that it is because of modesty and even more
of uncertainty I may be, and I often am, in agreement with the ma-
jority, but the approval of the majority cannot become m my eyes a
proof of truth My thought does not have to follow the fashion, and if
I do not think it more valuable from the mere fact that it is different and
isolated and separate, at least it is when it differs that it seems to me
most useful to express it Not that I take pleasure m that difference,
having otherwise great trouble in doing without agreement, and not
that the thoughts seem to me less important when widely shared, but
it is less important then to express them

It is by insisting upon the value of the particular, it is by its force
of mdmduahzation, that France can best and must oppose the forced
unification of Hitlerism Today, however, it is essential to meet one
united front with another, and, consequently, to enter the ranks and
be a part of the unit Temporarily, it is said Let us hope so
Moreover, isolated voices can no longer make themselves heard today
My unseasonable thoughts, until better times, I will store up in this
notebook

Are my thoughts, then, so very different — and so often so today —
from those of others? Perhaps not But in that case why should I ex-
press in an undertone what others excel in shouting? As soon as I do
not differ, I keep silent It is partly because I am definitely aware only
of my differences, whereas I am no longer sure of anything as soon
as I am m agreement

SI October

Through great fear that my memory may weaken, I have greatly
exercised it of late, and it now seems to me that it has never been
better, nor even, by far, so good Large sections of poems come, as if

6 Journal 1939

at will, to take their place in it, groups of lines from La Fontaine,
Racine, Hugo, Baudelaire, which I repeat tirelessly while walking

1 November

Reading the newspapers shocks me The war warps all minds
Everyone blows in the direction of the wmd And Maurras still com-
plains that the censorship does not allow patriots to speak frankly!

In short, everything urges me to frank silence

13 November

No desire to write anything m this notebook Better to work on my
play, of which I am completely doing over the third and fourth acts 2
I received the day before yesterday a letter from M Nicolas, who
deplores not seeing reproduced in the Pleiade edition of my Journal
the letter of rectification he wrote me last year and which the NR F
published m July 3 I have just reread that letter, it agam seems to me
most remarkable and I too deplore that omission, though very under-
standable, since nothing called this text to attention That letter estab-
lishes m most competent fashion the fact that Nietzsche’s attitude, or
lather the position he took in regard to Christ and Christianity, is quite
analogous to mine There will be occasion to brmg out that text
later on 4

2 Robert ou LTnteret general ( Robert or The Common Weal), first pub-
lished in Algiers in 1944-5

3 The letter from M P Nicolas to Andre Gide was pubhshed in the
July 1938 issue of La Nouvelle Revue Frangatse , the monthly literary re-
view founded by Gide and his inends m 1909 The letter refers to a passage
pubhshed m the same review in May 1938, which may be found in The
Journals of Andre Gide , Vol III, pp 370-1 The Pteiade edition of the
Journal the first complete publication covering the years 1889-1939, did
not appear until the summer of 1939

4 This is perhaps the occasion The letter, followed by footnote references
to each quotation from Nietzsche, appeared mthe NHF with a note by
Andre Gide to the effect that it contributes a very useful rec tifi cation, which
even seems to me indispensable, to certain imprudent affirmations of my
Recovered Pages” as follows

*You write, in La Nouvelle Revue Frangatse of th e first of May 1 can-
not set up against Christ that proud and jealous resistance of Nietzsche
When he speaks of Christ, his marvelous perspicacity seems to me to fail
him, yes indeed, he seems to me to accept an already second-hand and
distorted image of Chnst, and, in order to oppose him the better, to hold
Christ responsible for all the clouds and all the shadows projected on this
earth by the sorry misinterpretation of his words '

“Is this quite fair? — To be sure, Christianity and Chnst are the butt
of Nietzsches cnticism, but what care he takes (and what insistence he

Journal 1939 7

20 December

Been to see Helene Martin du Gard Spoke to her of that extraor-
dinary evening at the rue du Cherche-Midi when Roger had so greatly
frightened us

puts upon it) to distinguish between the two, to judge them separately! Far
from accepting a second-hand and deformed image of Christ, he rises up,
more than anyone, against that deformation ‘Absolutely arbitrary interpreta-
tion/ he writes, underlining the word ‘arbitrary ’ He clearly notes ‘Chris-
tianity has become something fundamentally different from what its founder
did and wished/ and again ‘The life of the Christian ends up by becoming
altogether the life that Christ taught us we had to give up 9 He adds that
Christianity according to Christ remains intact, unapplied but always pos-
sible, that he ‘is not bound to any of the unwise dogmas that have taken
his name ’ And often he examines in detail the falsifications that revolt him,
and often returns to this idea ‘What is Christian, in the Church’s sense, is
what precisely is anti-Chnshan *

“You also say ‘I feel in Christ’s teaching as much emancipatory power
as m Nietzsche V, but did not Nietzsche himself recognize the tremendous
emancipatory power of Christ’s teaching — its emmently ‘revolutionary’ char-
acter? Does he not say somewhere of Jesus ‘Wherever there was judging,
he took sides against those who judged He wanted to be a destroyer of
ethical rules ? Indeed, he goes farther Consult, I beg you. The Twilight of
the Gods ‘That holy anarchist/ it says of Christ, who called upon the
lowest of the people, the outcasts and the sinners, the chandala of Judaism,
to resist the established order — m words which, even today, would lead
to Siberia, if the Gospels can be beheved, that anarchist was a political
crimmal ’

“As for Christ s opposition to the notion of State, Nietzsche recognizes it
as you do and emphasizes it on many an occasion He reproaches St Paul
for having got away from it ‘The tragic humor of the matter is that St Paul
re-established and gave tremendous importance to what Christ had precisely
canceled by his life When the building of the Church was finished, it
sanctioned even the existence of the State ’ But he never imputes such a mis-
take to the original Church He praises it, on the contrary, for having rep-
resented ‘the suppression of the State’ and he professes that even today who-
ever would reject its authority, whoever would say ‘I will not be a soldier/
‘I am not concerned with the tribunals/ ‘I do not claim the help of the
police/ would, m a way, be returning to orthodoxy

“The same agreement with you in regard to the ;ot/ contamed m the true
preaching of Jesus Nietzsche felt it and expressed it You wrote some time
ago m the Nouvelles Nourntures ‘It required the abominable interpreta-
tion of men to found on the Gospels a cult, a sanctification, of sorrow and
suffering/ and Nietzsche wrote m The Antichrist ‘In all the psychology of
the Gospel there is no idea of guilt and punishment, nor any idea of reward
Sm, or any relationship of distance between God and man, is suppressed
This is just the “happy message ” ’

“I am well aware that he says elsewhere ‘Hatred of the senses, of joy

8

Journal 1939

"It was, I believe, at the time of La Sorellma , 5 after a very pleasant
dinner we three had talked at length m the apartment beneath Roger s
studio and I was about to withdraw when, suddenly, Roger told us
that he did not feel well and thought he was about to die Since he al-
most never goes off on a crazy tangent, Helene and I were very fright-
ened Where was the trouble? His heart? His stomach? He was
unable to say Did he have a pain somewhere? No Merely the
very keen sensation that he was dymg We made him stretch out on
the big bed, where he remained for some time, utterly motionless, his
eyes open but with a vacant stare, I ought rather to say with a fixed
stare, and as I recommended sleeping a bit If I close my eyes, I am
lost I am clinging to life solely by my stare ’ A few minutes later
he asked me to go in haste and fetch Duhamel It was about eleven
o’clock I rushed down the stair s, dashed to a taxi, and was driven to
rue Vauquelm, on the other side of the Latin Quarter At Duhamel’s
a maid told me that the master had gone out with his flute to indulge
m some music at the house of friends, whose address was given me
The auto was waiting at the door, and since, m order to get Duhamel,
I had to go by the rue du Chei che-Midi again, I wanted first to see if
Roger felt better or worse I found him already reassured

of the senses, of joy m general, is Christian ’ But it is so clear that the word
"Christian’ has two meanings with him — which stand m opposition to each
other This opposition becomes abundantly evident when he writes of al-
tered Christianity Tt is the upsurge of pessimism (— whereas Jesus wanted
to bring the peace and happiness of lambs) 9

"If he did not resuscitate, as you would have wished, a true Christ,
Nietzsche at least showed with what vigor the theologians and the world had
massacred him And m the rums of his own massacre (for it is quite true
that Christ himself does not wholly escape) could be found the elements
necessary to reconstruct a Nazarean very close, I fancy, to the real one

"This profound remark by you has been reported to me "Nietzsche was
jealous of Christ * It struck me It is beyond doubt that this Legislator en-
vied the other one, who "succeeded’ so well He envied and respected him
He loved’ his person and his very ideal, treating him with such regards as
this T have declared war on the anemic ideal of Christianity (as on what is
close to it), not with the intention of destroying it, but simply m order to
put an end to its tyranny and clear the ground for a new ideal ’

"How these mitigated regards justify youl How clearly one feels the
"jealousy’! — But the emulation also, and despite everything, beneath the
verbal hostility, the interest that Nietzsche, as creator of new values, bears
toward the earlier creator whose place it is essential to take
“Sincerely, etc

M P Nicolas”

5 La Sorellma, which appeared in 1928, is Part V of Les Thtbault (The
"World of the Thibaults) by Roger Martin du Gard

Journal 1939 9

* "False alarm/ he said "You may get rid of your taxi ? Then he made
many excuses for having so stupidly alarmed us, but really he had
thought it was the end ’

Amazing evening

But, no less amazing Helene had no recollection of it

1 January

Chapters hen and lxm of Roderick Random (story of Melopoyn,
the dramatist who cannot get his plays acted) — which foim an integral
unit — might, if well translated, be published m the N RF

It is now more than twenty years that I had been promising myself
to reread one of Smollett’s novels In the good parts (the life on the
sea), far superior to Gil Bias, 1 and far inferior m the others, more nu-
merous, alas!

13 January

Amused to discover in Hugo ( Legende des sidcles , Book VI, 1 Le
Font) a hemistich of Mallarme ( Bnse marine)

11 ressemblait au lys que sa blancheur defend
Ni le vide papier que la blancheur defend 2
Comcidence, doubtless, rather than a borrowing or recollection on
the part of Mallarme Moreover, Mallarme s half-line is much better
motivated than Hugo’s

Of all these streets, tell us why
You chose the darkest of alP
And why you always try
To stay in the shade of the wall ? 3

7 February

One must expect that after the war, and even though victors, we
shall plunge into such a mess that nothing but a determined dictator-
ship will be able to get us out of it One can see the soundest minds
gradually progressing in that direction (if I am to judge from myself,
as the fellow says), and many insignificant facts, one little decision
after another, which taken singly seem absolutely wise and altogether
unavoid able, are progressively accustoming us to that idea

1 The Adventures of Roderick Random was modeled upon Lesage’s
picaresque novel Gil Bias

2 Mallarm^’s Sea Breeze, with the line

Nor the empty paper protected by its whiteness
is better known than Hugo’s The Bridge (from The Legend of the Centuries)
with die similar line

He resembled the lily protected by its whiteness
* Dis ce qm, de toutes ces rues,

T’aura fait choisir la plus sombre?

Pourquoi toujours tu t’ evertues
A tester du cdt6 de V ombre?

11

Journal 1940

So that one could guess their opinions merely by knowing to
what they are insensitive It is easy to remain a conservative when one
is well taken care of oneself and but little touched by the misfortune of
others

Their mind moves m a dry world, boiled down like a problem At
first I tried to believe that they were urged to Communism by a tor-
menting love for our brothers, I was not able to mislead myself for
long Then I tried to beheve that those dry, insensitive, abstract crea-
tures were bad Communists, that they were doing a disservice to a
noble cause, and I refused to judge the cause according to them But
no, I was mistaken altogether, from top to bottom The real Commu-
nists, as I was told, as it was proved to me, were they They were fol-
lowing the lme exactly, and it was I who was wrong by introducing the
heart, with which they had no concern, and grounds of judgment they
claimed to do without And first of all when I claimed to preserve
through Communism my individuality, my individualism There could
and must be no question but of equality, of justice The rest (and it
was that remainder that especially mattered to me) belonged to Chris-
tianity And slowly I came to the conviction that when I thought my-
self a Communist, I was a Christian, if it may be that one can be a
Christian without “believing,” if Catholicism as well as Protestantism
did not put above everything else and as a condition sine qua non
Faith So that, with either one side or the other, I could not and would
not come to terms It’ s a pity were it not for that damned question of
belief which unfailingly makes my reason bristle, I should get along
well enough with the latter, at least as to the virtues they advocate, but
which very often they convince themselves that Faith allows them to
do without

Anything I buy at the expense of others I cannot emoy

In increasing that of others lies my greatest joy

15 February

“Truth is perhaps sad” (I should like to be sure of quoting this little
remark of Renan exactly, but I haven’t his Dialogues phtlosophiques
at hand) This remark, which sends people into rapture, bothers
me Truth can be neither sad nor gay But awakenmg from a false-
hood, believing oneself forsaken by God because of having origi-
nally believed in Providence — yes, that may well distress one at first
The only person who can be saddened by the fact that two and two
are but four is the one who had originally fancied that they “were”
more

12

Journal 1940

I should have been quite capable of being “converted* at the last
moment — I mean at the hour of death, m order not to cause her too
much suffering

And this is what made me long rather to die at a distance, m some
accident or other, of a sudden death, far from my family, as Montaigne
likewise wished to do, without any witnesses ready to attach to those
last moments an importance that I refused to grant them Yes, without
any other witnesses but chance and anonymous ones

25 April

Twenty-third day m bed and on a diet Better informed, I might
have forestalled this attack of nephritis, which leaves me as if with a
wound in the side

Never before have I approached so close to nonexistence

I am reading and rereading with the keenest admiration the articles
that Benda has collected under the title Precision Encouraged by
them, I pick up again Les Sentiments de Cntias , 4 so much less good
(not yet ripe, 1917) that one can understand why, subsequently, Benda
does not list this book among the “works by the same author "

Mansfield Park with an almost constant rapture

Trymg to discover still more that is new m Baudelaire, and over-
looking the disappointing clumsiness and insufficiencies of his poems
m prose, 5 I am very much amused to find m Le Joueur genereux
The cleverest of the devils deceits is to convince you that he
does not exist * 6

Moreover, this whole poem seems to me especially noteworthy, and
particularly its paradoxical conclusion The following poem likewise
contains great beauties, particularly m the last lines

A slope that it is m no wise certain I shall climb back up

1 May

I have again missed the early spring More than twenty days in
bed When, at last, I can get up and go out, the wisterias have already
half lost their blossoms The strict diet has left me very weakened, but

* Clarification, a collection of essays on method, Communism, national-
ism, and pacifism, etc , which appeared between 1930 and 1937, name out
in hook form m 1937 The Sentiments of Cntias, Benda’s philosophic essays
written in wartime, appeared in 1917

s Upon rereading them again, I find many fewer examples of clumsiness
tiban there had first seemed to me to be [Note supplied by Gide m the
French edition Such notes will hereafter be indicated by an A m brackets ]

* The Generous Gambler is one of Baudelaire’s Poems in Prose For
Gides expression of the same thought, see The Journals of Andr6 Gide,
Vol II, pp 189-90

Journal 1940 13

all the more sensitive I have made the acquaintance of morphine
Somewhat disappointed It effectively silenced pam when the attack
of nephritis became excessively bothersome, but without bringing m
addition any of the paradisiacal quality I had anticipated (Rouveyre
explains to me that it is always this way with morphine when you ask
it to perform a service, when you call on its activity to cancel a pam,
that it really does its best only when idle ) If I do not let myself be
caught by the craze to smoke, if I am able to take advantage of the im-
petus coming from an obligatory abstention from tobacco m order to
rid myself of that absurd vice, which has gradually become an im-
perative need, I shall not have paid too dearly for my liberation

Another subjection I should like to shake off the "unpunished vice”
of reading 7 — or at least that habit I have got of reading constantly
and everywhere, of never letting my thought wander aimlessly with-
out a guide or compamon

What do I still expect from a book today? What ultimate enrich-
ment? A lesson that is henceforth rather useless, for, at my age, ""the
die is cast ” Amusement? Not so much so, probably, as mere dis-
traction Yes, by reading I seek to distract myself from myself, and
whereas it would be essential to commune with myself, it seems that,
almost without choice, I welcome everything that may help me to
forget myself And that vague dispersion of my thought which takes
me away from any real work flatters and encourages a certain smug
lazmess For if I fear leaving my mind unoccupied and constantly
brmg it some new nourishment from the outside, this is partly because
I know that it produces nothing good without effort But it would be
still better to give it a total holiday than constantly to mterpose a
screen between it and God I must learn to know solitude all over
again What I must take walking with me henceforth is not a book, but
this notebook, and prefer not to think at all rather than not to think
on my own

I never wrote anything good save in joy, and at moments I wonder
if my heart still contams a single spark of it

Of what might I be able to speak with real competence? On any
subject whatever, what I feel first and foremost is my inadequacy

4 May

Not able to keep faith Yesterday I already broke over twice
smoked a cigarette (the first m a full month) with Mme Th4o, come

7 Valery Larbaud brought out m 1925 a provocative essay entitled Ce
Vice impunt , la lecture ( That Unpunished Vice , Reading ) , in which he de-
scribed the pleasures and dangers of an addiction to reading

Journal 1940

from Cabns, and m the afternoon took a book on my walk La Con-
quite des pdles by Bidou had interested me so powerfully that I got
myself die account of his travels m Brazil Neuf Cents Lieues sui
TAmazone 8 — which I take along again this morning m that bit of
exploration to Beaulieu The hotel that Bussy recommended to me is
closed, as are all the vacation hotels There are moments, periods,
when one would be inclined to think it impossible to stay fixed any-
where Less frequent penods, most happily, than those in which one
would be glad to drop anchor anywheie whatever, so readily does
happiness seem to await you almost eveiy where, so little would it take
to make one happy I

5 May

Reserved a seat m the Pans express for Wednesday Made this de-
cision suddenly yesterday evening on my return from a visit to Vence,
where I had gone to make sure of two rooms at the “Domame de la
Conque for Mme Theo and me But, having calculated everything
carefully, I cannot allow myself that expense, and, anyway, I see noth-
ing but a fatiguing complication m that plan Regret does not come
easy to me and I am readily able to convince myself that what I am
led to do, whether freely or under duress, is what was preferable
Strange and quite instinctive mechanism of my mmd, with a view to
protecting its equilibrium and its happiness

6 May

And yet, as if to keep me here, the countryside yesterday clothed it-
self with a thousand graces “as on the finest days ” 8 The air was soft,
the sky ineffably pure A warmth, more exquisite for having been
longer awaited, seemed to invite the whole being to blossom forth m
joy Why use the imperfect tense? This morning it is the same splen-
dor, enough to make one wonder whether one has not imagined that
atrocious shadow which the war casts over our thoughts

I considered it indecent to leave the region without first going to
say farewell to those at Cabns, and particularly to see Cathenne 10
again I accepted Loup’s offer to spend the night at La Messuguiere in
that same room I occupied so pleasantly six months ago That long
time has gone by for me so evenly, despite the monstrous events that
give that time a place in history, that it seems to me I could join May
directly to Octo ber, so readily do these six months of calm felicity

! Conquest °f Me P oles and Nine Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
The water was transparent as on the finest days” is the fourth line
ot La Fontaine's fable of The Heron (Book VII, 4)

„ ” Jhe author’s daughter, Cathenne Gide Loup is Mme Maynsch de

Journal 1940 15

among perfect friends form a complete whole sheltered from the
torment

What am I going to Paris for? Nothing imperative calls me there
Still not completely recovered from that attack of nephritis, weakened
by this prolonged semi-fast, I feel as if I had but little endurance Yes-
terday that half-hour walk m the mountains on which Elisabeth and
Catherine took me (the little cat accompanied us) wore me out, and
last night, my nerves overtaut despite the sedative against spasms, I
was barely able to rest completely for a few hours Unbearable an-
guish, which forced me, as it were, to get dressed and to stretch out
on the bed fully clothed In short, a miniature hell, if I may say so

Vence, 7 May

Agam m this charming "Domame de la Conque” where I had al-
ready stayed in ’37 or ’36 Mme Theo is with me My fatigue makes me
congratulate myself on having postponed my return to town Incapable
of writing anything this evening

8 May

A pity that so often m this war our spirit of fairness can look like
stupidity

People seem to discover one by one coarse truths that it is danger-
ous to overlook When they shout "There is not a minute to waste,”
this is a sign that weeks have been wasted and that they are getting
ready to waste hours and days more "Not an mch of ground” or "until
our last drop of blood” empty formulas in which vanity takes
refuge and which evoke the shadow of the great ghost of defeat It is
not known to whom they are addressed nor whom they have a mission
to convmce It seems that they take the place of action, and I find it
hard to imagine a case m which it is proper to use them

9 May

"The more one thinks about it the more one is convinced of
this obvious truth it doesn’t make sense” (Antoine Thibault 11 ) But
what kind of sense did you expect it to make?

"Man is a miracle without interest” (Jean Rostand) But what in
the world would it take for this miracle to assume importance m your
eyes, for you to consider it worthy of mterest?

As for me, the more I think about it, the less I manage to under-
stand you It is enough to make one wonder at times whether you do
not miss "the good Lord ” Then it would be much more likely — from

11 Spoken by the dymg brother, Dr Antoine Thibault, in Epilogue, the
last part of Roger Martin du Gard’s long novel, The World of the Thibaults

jg Journal 1940

noting the inadequacy of His goodness, the failure of His justice, or His
helplessness (if I believed in Providence) - that my ^ cry of despair
would burst forth It never occurs to me to regret not “believing”, but
it often occurs to me to say to myself “Fortunately I do not believe!"

10 May

There is a certain romanticism m grieving that things are not
otherwise than what they are, that is to say, than what they can be It
is on the real that we must build our wisdom, and not on the imag-
inary Even death must be admitted by us and we must use to the
point of understanding it, to the pomt of understanding that the won-
drous beauty of this world comes, it so happens, from the fact that
nothing m it lasts and that constantly this must make way and matter
to permit that which has not yet been to come forth, the same, but re-
newed, rejuvenated, the same and yet imperceptibly closer to that
perfection toward which it tends without knowing it and from which
is gradually formed the very visage of God Ever m a state of forma-
tion and never finished, from the unthinkable abyss of the past to the
un thinka ble “consummation of the centuries ”

No thin g more irritating, more absurd, than the What is every-
thing that is not eternal P when it is said without irony 12 That would
be gay, wouldn’t it, always to be faced with the immutable! Rigid your-
self, to what season of the year would you limit yourself? The season
of buds? or of flowers? or of fruits? At what moment (even in your
own life) would you dare to say This is it! Don’t move*

11 May

I should have reached Paris yesterday (my seat was already re-
served), I should have been just in time to learn the shocking news 16
Shocking but not surprising, alas! The radio yesterday evening man-
aged to talk a great deal without exactly telling us anything They
protest, they express indignation, in a noble and formal tone of voice,
with outbursts based on history, enough to make Hitler chuckle if he
didn’t have some th ing better to do than listen to our announcers

13 May

Whatever I am doing, that anxiety consists in interrupting me by
suddenly telling me that first I have something better to do, something
I have not yet done though I should have done it Thus I am distracted
from the most fascinating reading m order to file my nails, for instance,
or to change my shoelaces My mind never, or almost never, succeeds

13 See The Journals of Andrd Gide, Vol III, p 31,
18 Of the German invasion of the Low Countries

Journal 1940 17

m relaxing, it remains on the alert and constantly m contact with the
whole outer world So that, playmg on the word, I can say that it takes
hardly anything at all to distract me, or that, accordmg to the current
meaning, I can never distract myself

14 May

Distressmg insignificance of these notes I force myself, however,
to this little daily effort with the sole purpose of not letting my pen
get rusty

Though the days are so short, oh, how this insipid prolongation of
my life seems to drag out!

17 May

After all, no! The events are too serious, I have no further attention
but for them Less saddened by them than by the state of mind the
commentaries reveal, and not solely that of the French, but especially
that of the French The great inspiring sentiments are played up to such
an extent that it seems as if they were getting a thrashing under the
circumstances and dragging us along to our downfall, that it seems
likewise as if the genius of evil were winning out, since it is just this
that people enjoy discerning m the enemy's every action rather than
the order and discipline accompanying it and always ensuring its tri-
umph Yet it would be good to recognize that the very shortcomings
of the German people are among those that favor victories, whereas
our very virtues stand m our way

I had set out to write much longer on this subject Interrupted by
the visit of Janie Bussy Yesterday I had gone to Nice to pack m a
trunk the few things I had left with my friends The tension of the
situation with regard to Italy urges them to leave Nice They come to
settle for a time at Vence, to which I returned that same evening m
their company Mme Theo, to whom we telephoned, found them a
very pleasant lodging into which they moved at once

Since I have been at Vence I have been reading every morning a
few pages of Eckermann These Conversations with Goethe are an
inexhaustible resource One rarely encounters sublime, unexpected
flashes, but it is a contmuous flow of smiling wisdom, rather similar,
altogether, to Montaigne's, and almost always profitable, which is less
hkely to elevate the soul than to temper it, without ever subduing it

What would he have thought of Jean Rostand's little book? 14

14 Impossible to know whether Gide was thinking of Pensees (Pun hiolo-
giste ( Thoughts of a Biologist) La Vie et ses prohUmes ( Life and its Prob-
lems), or Science et generation ( Science and Generation) — all of them
short books appearing in 1939 or early 1940

2 g Journal 1940

The image of man that Goethe leaves us is exemplary, I mean that
it is according to that model that one would like to live and think

18 May

Admirable night Everything swoons and seems to be enraptured
m the light of an almost full moon The roses and acacias mingle their
scents The undergrowth sparkles with fireflies I think of all those foi
whom this so beautiful night is the last and I should like to be able to
pray for them But I have ceased even to understand very well what
the words ‘pray for someone” mean, or rather, I know that they can
no longer mean anything for me They are words that I have carefully
emptied of all meaning But my heart is filled with love

Through a sense of decency I am concerned m this notebook only
with what has nothing to do with the war, and this is why I go for so
many days without wntmg anything in it Those are the days on which
I have not been able to rid myself of the anguish, not been able to
think of anything but that

Sunday

Unbearable itchings kept me awake until dawn This mornmg, not
a cloud in the sky, not a mist A glorious and calm felicity pours down
on earth Everything invites man to happiness

Deadly vulgarity of Bromfield’s book ( The Rams Came) I give up
after the first two parts — already surprised at having been able to en-
dure it for three hundred pages It is true that I was readmg with ever
less and less attention The beginning had misled me

21 May

How hard I find it to tell myself that there are things I am no
longer of an age to do and that I should do better not to try!

Or at least I tell this to myself all right, but without convincing my-
self So that, after all, I do those things none the less, but afterward I
am almost done in

I am writing this seated on the edge of a road above Vence, on my
way back from a dangerous climb, tiring because there was no path,
through undergrowth that became thicker and thicker as I approach
the summit, which is constantly withdrawing and which, eventually,
I give up reaching

Great effort without any reward other than the satisfaction of my
vanity (for the landscape from the top was much less beautiful than
I had a nght to expect from my trouble) and the joy I take m new
plants a small spurge forming a cluster close to the ground, which I

J O U R N A L I940

believe I had never seen before, a geranium with very broad puxplish-
red flowers, a little member of the lily family similar to asphodels
A bit lower down, the poppy-red cistus dotted the moor, and occa-
sionally, nsmg from among the rocks, robust valerians Not a butterfly

O incurably frivolous people of France^ You are going to pay dearly
today for your lack of application, your heedlessness, your smug reclin-
ing among so many charming virtues f

25 May

Long study of the garlic plants growing abundantly m the hotel
garden I cannot explain the formation of the cloves at the base of the
stems of ceitam florets, similar to those that sprmg from the axilla of
the leaves of certain lilies Substitutes for seeds, equally good for re-
production^ Oh, would that Strohl were with me*

That systematic dismdividualization toward which Hitlerism strove
prepaied Germany wonderfully for wai And that is especially the
point, it seems to me, on which Hitlerism is opposed to Christianity,
that incomparable school of individualization, m which each is more
precious than all Negate individual value so that each one, fused into
the mass and adding to the number, is indefinitely replaceable, so that,
if Friedrich or Wolfgang gets killed, Hermann or Ludwig will do just
as well, and that there is no occasion to be greatly grieved at the loss
of this or that one

Letters from young men at the front, letters from Belgian refugees,
enough to fill one's heart with tears and horror May tomorrow not
bring still worse

A telegram from Marc , 15 which at first I do not very well under-
stand, urgently advises me, m the name of an imaginary Dr Dubois
who has been consulted, to begin at once my treatment in the Pyrenees
This is obviously because he judges that there is peril m remaining —
or, if not peril, immediate danger, and this after talking with the
Ministry of the Interior Who knows even if D did not especially beg
him or commission him to warn me?

But I haven't the heart to go and leave behind me the Bussys and
all those at Cabris The danger is no greater for me than for them
The Bussys, to whom I transmit the telegram, tell me they have made
up their mind to stay, whatever happens — unless, of course, a general
command 1$ given to evacuate Vence, most improbable !

15 Marc AlMgret

20

Journal 1940

Marcel, 1 ® likewise, writes me of the decision arrived at with Jeanne
not to leave Cuveiville, after they have sent the children to the other
side of die Seme, I don’t know just where, will they be able to?

30 May

Certain days, or rather certain hours of every day (I am speaking
of the most recent past), I feel as far from my books as if they were
the work of someone else, or, if my thought can still inhabit them, at
least I should be incapable today of rewriting them There was neces-
sary also, in order to achieve them, a fixity of mind I no longer have

The social question' If I had encountered that great trap at
the be ginnin g of my career, I should never have written anything
worth while

I assume the profound and almost prophetic tone (m conversation)
solely when I am not at all sure of what I am saying

31 May

Not a day, not an hour when I do not tell myself my age I did not
say when I do not feel it

Wonderful automobile ride on which the charming Mme Bourdet
takes the three Bussys and me We leave the Coursegoule road a mo-
ment to get to the very small village of Samt-Barnabe A tiny chapel
where in front of the altar burns a coarse candle m place of a taper,
stirring evidence of a very humble piety Admirable mountam land-
scape all about

La Tourette, 5 June

The young Belgian who brought us here in his auto had just come
from Belgium He told us how he had been detained a whole night at
the frontier, dose to Dunkerque, of which he saw the bombardment
Innumerable autos, like his, were waiting to be allowed to enter
France At 8 a m the frontier was finally opened and the flood rushed
forward hke a torrent of autos and pedestrians without any check of
any kind, without any identity papers being exammed All those who
wanted to pass were allowed to pass without distinction, and thus a
vast number of Germans were able to enter France and spread out over
the country without even having to use planes or parachutes It will do
no good later on to chase after them and to increase zeal Three quart-
ers of our efforts in France are only with a view to making up for
negligences

18 Marcel Droum.

21

Journal 1940

We reached Samt-Genes-la-T ourette in twenty-two hours, with a
single stop of two hours at Le Puy, where we lunched (but stopped
twenty times durmg the night for verification of our identity papers)
The young Belgian and Dr Cailleux took turns at the wheel Having
left Vence at about 7pm, fear of a sudden withdrawal of driving-
permits and of a requisition of autos made us drive fast That very
morning Menton had been evacuated The doctor who had just learned
this had come in haste from Nice to take me away and to allow me to
take advantage of the unhoped-for chance he was offering me

On the way through Valence I looked m vain for Mile Charras’s
dwelhng I should have been happy to say hello to her Despite the
moonless night, crossing the mountains was splendid, then the day-
break m an utterly clear sky But the first news we got was that of the
bombardment of Pans

Vichy, 8 June

At the general delivery window I find a telegram that finally quiets
my fears about Domi, 17 of whom we had had no news since the 10th
of May Caught m the “glorious” Dunkerque retreat, he is in England,
saved*

All communications with invaded Belgium have been cut off, and
the un fortunate refugees can get no news of the members of their
family who stayed there

The roads are cluttered by wandering families fleeing at ran-
dom and without knowing where Children have got lost, whom the
wretched parents are seeking Last night, through the open window of
my room giving onto the end of the park, I thnee heard a heart-
rending cry “Piene! Pierre!” and almost went down to find the poor
demented man who was uttering that call, desperately, in the mght
And for a long time I could not go to sleep, ceaselessly imagining that
distress

This morning I speak of it to Naville He too heard the cry all right,
but, he tells me, it was the mght watchman, who shouts “Lumi&rel
Lumidrel ” 18 when he sees a lighted window, like mine

Vichy, 11 June

In Le Temps an article by J L , in which I read “A man of letters,
quoted by M G4raldy, boasted of bemg sensitive and proclaimed
'There is no truth but m the nuance * Was it not one of those colorless
writers who get lost looking for the right shade when it is impossible

17 Dominique Drouin

18 "Lights! Lights!”

22

Journal 1940

for them to reflect light?” What an absurdity! I believe that ‘man of
letters” was Renan, and the remark by him that is quoted is profoundly
mismterpreted here

Those few intellectuals who today beat their breast and accuse
themselves of having 'loved literature too much ” will they never un-
derstand how prejudicial it is to culture to forsake and negate certain
graces of the mind? Are we, by a "strategic withdrawal,” to turn our
back on everything subtle, finely shaded, and delicate that French art
has produced? Shall we be enjoined to prefer La Madelon 19 to the
works of Debussy and Ravel? Neuville and Detaille to Corot? Beran-
ger to Baudelaire, Deroulede to Verlaine (to cite only the dead),
through great fear of what might enervate and weaken us?

Today our literature is incriminated, it is reproached for its refine-
ment and for having striven to weaken rather than to electrify our en-
ergies, some go so far as to wish that we had never had any poets but
the Bonners and the D£rouledes Would it not be wiser to recog-
nize that any advanced literature, whatever it may be, tends to exhaust
what produces it? That flower of civilization develops and blossoms
at the expense of the plant, which gives and sacrifices itself to this
end With more tendency to blossom, Germany would have been less
strong It is to protect the delicate that force is brought out It is essen-
tial to maintain everything

I recall that in 1914, seized with a great zeal, if I had been listened
to, there would have been nothing but vegetables m the Cuverville
garden How much wiser my wife was not to accept the suppression of
the flowers*

This evening Naville learns that the Paris tiams are not run-
ning

Atrocious anguish for those at Cuverville

14 June

I have read with a pleasure at moments very keen Istrati’s Kyra
Kyralina , of such a special flavor that it makes one think of certain tales
of The Arabian Nights or of some picaresque novel, but reflecting a
much more iridescent sensitivity than Lesage or Smollett

14 June

That "important announcement” that Reynaud is holding m store
for us, Naville thinks that

Yes, that is it And one ceases to understand where that "soul” or

19 La Madelon is the well-known song sung by the soldiers of World
War I

Journal 1940 23

that “genius” of France may still be that they are claiming to save in
spite of everything Its very support is going to be taken away from it
From now on (and this was clear even the day before yesterday), the
struggle is useless, our soldiers are getting killed m vain We are at
the mercy of Germany, which will strangle us as best she can Despite
everything, we shall shout very loud “Honor is saved 1 ” resembling
that lackey in Marivaux who says “I don t like people to show dis-
respect for me” while receiving a kick m the rear

Doubtless there is no shame in being conquered when the enemy
forces are so far superior, and I cannot feel any, but it is with an in-
describable sorrow that I hear these phrases that exhibit all the short-
comings that have brought us to our rum vague and stupid idealism,
ignorance of reality, improvidence, heedlessness, and absurd belief m
the value of token remarks that have ceased to have credit save m the
imagination of simpletons

How can one deny that Hitler played the game in masterful fash-
ion, not letting himself be bound by any scruple, by any rule of a game
that, after all, has none, taking advantage of all our weaknesses, which
he had long and skillfully favored In the tragic light of events there
suddenly appeared the deep decay of France, which Hitler knew only
too well Everywhere incoherence, lack of discipline, invoking of fanci-
ful rights, repudiation of all duties

What will the well-intentioned young men who yesterday were
concerned with remaking France do with the miserable rums that will
remain' 1 1 am thinking of Warsaw, of Prague Will it be the same
with Paris? Will the Germans let the best of our energies breathe and
recover themselves? They will not limit their attention solely to our
material rum Today we cannot yet envisage the frightful consequences
of the defeat

We should not have won the other war That false victory deceived
us We were not able to endure it The relaxmg that followed it
brought us to our rum (On this subject Nietzsche spoke words of
wisdom Thoughts out of Season ) Yes, we were ruined by victory But
shall we let ourselves be taught by defeat? The evil goes so deep that
one cannot say whether or not it is curable

Petains speech is simply admirable “Since the victory, the spirit
of enjoyment has won out over the spirit of sacrifice People claimed
more than they served They wanted to save effort, today they are
meeting misfortune” It cannot be better expressed, and these words
console us for all the flatus vocts of the radio

23 June

The armistice was signed yesterday evening. And now what is go-
ing to happen?

24

Journal 1940

24 June

Yesterday eve nin g we heard with amazement Petam’s new speech
on the radio Can it be? Did Petarn himself deliver it? Freely? One sus-
pects some infamous deceit How can one speak of France as intact
after ha ndin g over to the enemy more than half of the country? How
to make these words fit those noble words he pronounced three days
ago? How can one fail to approve Churchill? Not subscribe most heart-
ily to General de Gaulle s declaration? Is it not enough for France to
be conquered? Must she also be dishonored? This breaking of her
word, this denunciation of the pact binding her to England, is indeed
the crudest of defeats, and this triumph of Germany the most com-
plete, by getting France, as she hands herself over, to debase herself

24 June

Nothing but the Conversations with Goethe succeed m distracting
my mind somewhat from the anguish At any other time I should note
many reservations, some of them are important Today I reach, under
the date of 12 February 1792, the passage m which Goethe opposed
the first line of a recent poem

Kem Wesen kann zu mchts zerf alien
to the openmg of a poem that he now declares absurd and that he is an-
noyed to have seen engraved in golden letters above the entrance of a
natural-history gallery by his Berlin friends

Denn alles muss zu mchts zerf alien
Wenn es tm Setn heharren will,

the lesson of which seems to me much more profound and almost to
join that of the Gospel 20 But Goethe, as he approached death, got
farther and farther away from the shadow, instead of trying to pass
through it to reach the supreme light Likewise he rejected any meta-
physical preoccupation, and his desire-need for “mehr Lichf 21 became
more and more urgent And this did not fail to be accompanied by a

20 The text of Eckermanns volume reads "Goethe read me the thor-
oughly noble poem Kem Wesen ham zu mchts zerf alien ('No being can
dissolve to nothing*), which he had lately written

* I wrote this poem/ said he, *in contradiction to my lines
Denn alles muss zu mchts zerfallen
Wenn es im Seyn heharren will? etc*

(For all must melt to nothing
Would it continue still to be)

— which are stupid, and which my Berlin friends, at the late assembly of
scientists, set up m golden letters, to my annoyance * ”

21 Goethe is reported to have called on his deathbed for "more light *

Journal 1940 25

certain narrowing of his thought I should like to talk of this with
Marcel 22 But when shall I see him again?

And so many ruinous illusions! We see the cost of it today We shall
have to pay for all the absurdities of the intangible Versailles Treaty,
the humiliations of those who were then the defeated, the useless
vexations, which used to enrage me in 1919 but agamst which it was
useless to protest, the shameful abuse of victory Now it is their turn
to abuse

What a lack of psychology we revealed then, when infatuated with
our triumph* As if the wisest thing would not have been to hold out
one's hand to the defeated, help him get up instead of striving to crush
him even more, absurdly and without being aware that this merely fed
his rancor and stiffened his will But how can you persuade anyone,
when it is a matter of politics, that generosity is not always and exclu-
sively reserved for dupes? Probably it would have been fantastic to
count on "gratitude," but the best way of preventing Hitler was not to
provide him a justification

Moreover, great historic events are invested with a character of
such inevitable fatality that the great man who directs things seems to
me much more created by events than for them My sentence is not
very clear, but neither is my thought I mean that m the formation of
any great statesman one must consider as tremendous the role of cir-
cumstances Nothing differs more from poetic genius And yet the per-
fect blossoming of a masterpiece corresponds, likewise, to some par-
ticipation of the seasonable, 23 to the prehminary mood of the public,
to its unconscious anticipation

I have just reread, with an often very keen satisfaction, La Fortune
des Rougon 24 Certain chapters are worthy of Balzac at his best

25 June

Hostilities ended last night One hardly dares rejoice thinking of
what lies m store for us

26 June

Frightful idleness of expectation The radio is henceforth mute
Could we hear, at least m the evening, the English communiques? I
ought to take a cure at Gmoles, but shall I be able to stay some time

22 Andre Gide’s brother-in-law, Marcel Dromn

23 This word appears m English in the French text

24 The Fortune of the Rougons is a novel by Zola,

26

Journal 1940

away from Cabns and Vence until it will perhaps be possible for me
to return to Pans, to Cuverville?

Is there still someone with whom I take real pleasure m talking? I
can no longer assert anything without my imaginations seeming at
once to force my thought somewhat None of my convictions is now
sufficiently solid for the slightest objection not to upset it immediately,
even though others' assertions most often strike me as empty and, they
too, ill assured More and more I fear that an idea may seem to me
right merely because it is well expressed

As for the present situation the time has not yet come when
one will have to “declare oneself” The real questions have not yet
arisen For the moment I feel nothing m me but expectation, and hope
but I do not yet know of what

After having long nourished myself on the Second Faust , I take up
agam the first part, which it happened that I knew less well, though
having read it many times What beauty I still discover m it I What
abundance! Everything in it is saturated with life Thought is never
presented in it in an abstract form, just as sentiment is never separated
from thought, so that the most individual is still heavy with meanmgs
and, so to speak, exemplary Goethe enters the sublime regions m such
a natural way that with him one always feels on an even footing

However tempered, however reasonable he is and strives to be, it
is in the unexplained, the unexplainable, and what he would call the
demoniacal that he seems to me greatest I like the fact that, convers-
ing with Eckermann and urged by him to comment on the role of the
“Mothers” in the Second Faust , to define the significance he grants
them, Goethe sidesteps and shelters from too logical and too reasoned
an investigation that “cone of shadow” on which his wisdom rests,
from which his poetry springs, and without which he would occasion-
ally belong in a class with Beranger If “das Schaudern 9 is the best part
of man, 25 it is likewise the best part of Goethe

This morning finished Zola's La Debacle, which I had not yet
read 29 To be sure, it is not the novel I most like of his, though he occa-
sionally achieves m it a special grandeur But m it Zola is constantly
tied, bound by a thousand bonds to historical events, and one is ex -

25 In Faust, Part II, Act I, line 6272, Goethe makes Faust say “Das
Schaudern ts der Menschheit bestes Tetl” Gide has frequently referred to
that “tremor of awe ”

2S In August 1914, likewise, Gide proposed to read Zola's The Collapse
and Marguentte's he DSsastre (The Disaster ), both fictional accounts of
the defeat of 1870 See The Journals of A ndri Gide, Vol II, p 68

Journal 1940 27

cessively aware that the book is made up of a patient senes of slight
documentations It could not be otherwise, but a simple and honest
history of the war of 1870 and the Commune would then interest me
more Whence the fact that Germinal , La Terre, or Pot Bouille 27 is
superior to it

Gmoles, S July

Under the window of my room, a huge plane tree, which is indeed
one of the handsomest trees I have ever seen I remain at length in ad-
miration of its huge trunk, its powerful ramification, and that equilib-
rium depending on the weight of its largest branches The contempla-
tion of a century-old tree has just as calming an effect as that of the
big pachyderms that Butler so strongly recommended

Here the broom, later m development, is still m flower, and, be-
sides, since the wilted flowers loosen from the stem and fall, each
branch preserves the appearance of complete freshness That rapid
falling of the flowers also results in a very small number of them reach-
ing the seed stage 28

4 July

Belgian soldiers people the region Most of them still very young,
some even have charming faces not yet marked by life, with smiling
lips and eyes, much more inclined to joy than the faces of our French
soldiers They can be seen wandering m the streets of Alet m little
groups, but more often seated in a row against the houses, back to the
wall, frightfully idle, not one of them thinking up any form of distrac-
tion, waiting for something or other in the dull flight of time In the
evening they go to the cabaret, whence they come out drunk to the
point of not being able to walk, rolling, pitching, and sometimes vom-
iting, full of wrath and changed mto brutes with swollen, pasty faces
How useful the obligation to work is for those who do not yet know
how to fill their leisure time pleasantly or profitably! But m this com-
plete uprooting, m the uncertainty of the morrow, not knowing how
much longer their exile will last, how can they undertake anything and
even try to distract themselves? This imposed inaction of men as soon
as they are far from combat is indeed one of the worst results of war,
and it was of boredom, of fierce boredom, that those who were mo-

27 Germinal, The Earth and Piping Hot are other novels by Zola

28 I examine the broom again and notice on certain plants a great many
pods, on others, more frequent to be sure, none at all It seems, moreover,
that the last flowers fruit more often than the first ones nearer the center —
justifying, it might be said, what I have always maintained about the de-
sirable spreading of the progeny [A ]

2 g Journal 1940

bilized before May especially complained, a boredom that made them
long for combat And now this waiting for demobilization for
those who are still alive

6 July

I am advancing more and more easily in the Gesprachungen nut
Goethe 29 and am making undeniable progress m the understanding of
German This is partly because I nevei let a word go by until I under-
stand it completely Had I shown the same zeal for learnmg m my
childhood, where would I not be today! But it always seems to me
that I am merely beginning really to know how to learn, to take ad-
vantage What joy I find m diligence* — and a semiforgetfulness of the
present anguish

Goethe recovers in the Second Faust all his greatness, which he
somewhat lost in the common run of the Conversations At times one
hears him utter almost embarrassingly heavy sententious remarks The
only thing that saves them is the tone of smiling guilelessness present
throughout

7 July

And we shall still continue to accuse Germany of “being short on
psychology”*

The thing seems to me to have been prepared with consummate
cleverness France and England are like two puppets m the hands of
Hitler, who now amuses himself, after having conquered France, by
aligning against her her ally of yesterday I can see nothing but an in-
vitation to England to hurl herself, through great fear, on our fleet, m
that clause of the armistice which did not ask (at least at first) that it
be handed over, but left it “intact,” bound simply by a mutual promise
(which allowed Petam to say that at least our “honor” was untouched)
Was it not obvious that England should come to fear that that entire
fleet might eventually be turned against her, and that Germany, if only
the luck began to turn, would not hesitate to throw that decisive
weight mto the scale? It was better not to run that dangerous risk

I doubt that this sudden turn surprised Hitler much He was count-
ing on it, I would swear, perfidious, cynical if you wish, but here agam
he acted with a sort of genius And what I wonder at the most is per-
haps the variety of his resources Since the beginning of the war (and,
indeed, since long before) everything has taken place exactly as he
had foreseen it, wanted it, even with no delay, on the appointed day,
for which he can wait, letting the engines that he has wound up and
that must not explode beforehand act stealthily No historic game is

Eckermann’s Conversations with Goethe

Journal 1940 29

known or can be imagined that is more skillfully engineered, that in-
volves so little chance Soon the very people he is crus hin g will
be obliged, while cursing him, to admire him He does not seem to
have been mistaken m any of his reckonings, he correctly evaluated
the power of resistance of each country, the value of individuals, their
reactions, the advantage that could be drawn from this, with every-
thing involved Oh, how our shocked bewilderment, our honorable in-
dignation m face of the English attack at Mers-el-Kebir must have
amused him, and the sudden souring of our relations with England* 80
To have got the French aviation, already half decommissioned, to re-
turn to the field and, as a reprisal, to bombard the English ships is
wonderful! And, furthermore, we shall have to be grateful to Ger-
many and Italy for canceling their prohibition at once m order to allow
us to strike out likewise against what becomes “the common enemy”
and thus to give us — mdeed! — full permission to help the Axis We
have been prettily maneuvered, without even being aware of it, by
Hitler, the sole master of the circus ring, whose sly and hidden smart-
ness surpasses that of the great captains

One awaits with bieathless curiosity the next chapter of this great
drama he had so minutely and patiently elaborated

I should like to be told which of his insults that made us call him a
monster, which of his contempts has not been found, and proved in
practice, to be motivated His great cynical strength consisted m not
deigning to take account of any token values, but only of realities, of
acting according to the prompting of an unhampered mind He has
never taken any but others m with fine words One may well hate him,
but he most decidedly has to be taken into account

8 July

A few yards from the bench where I sit reading, I hear a dialogue
going on A voice full of assurance, but somewhat tremulous and
broken by age, asserts

“Yes, sir, it’s the infantry that wins battles, the infantry alone, it
has been proved and generally recognized that the infantry alone

I pretend to be absorbed in my reading for fear of being taken to
task by the very respectable old man (over eighty-two), the head of
the establishment and of the hotel, who goes on

“Aviation! Your aviation makes me laugh Oh, I am well aware
that

He walks away with his indulgent interlocutor, and for a few mo-

80 On 4 July 1940, after the French Admiral Gensoul had refused the
British terms offered by Vice-Admiral Somerville, the English fleet bom-
barded French units off Mers-el-Kebir, near Oran.

Journal 1940

ments I cease to hear him But when the group comes back again, I
hear once moie

“On the battlefield it’s classic the great and only victor is the foot-
soldier Your anplanes are all nonsense ”

Alas' It is just because we clung, perhaps not particularly to that
idea, but to similar ones, that we lost those battles Smce the methods
of attack and defense change, the best ideas in strategy can m time
become mere stupidities, and the officeis who lefuse to relinquish them
can become generals Faced with an inventive enemy who manages
to renew his methods and means of attack, nothing is worse than lead-
ers who stick to routine It is even better to have men without any ex-
perience but ready to welcome and take advantage of it rather than
those who stubbornly persist m their memory of an earlier war with
hardly any resemblance to the present one, ready to conclude that the
victory is wrong when it inclines toward the new

9 July

Splendid morning, radiant sky The mountain, opposite, is dripping
with l umm ous azure The countryside with its golden wheat is satu-
rated with peace, with joy, and every bird, intoxicated with the sun-
light, relates it Amid so much serenity I cannot manage to feel very
sad, besides, I do not try to, and believe that even m grief it is bad
to force oneself Effort must be carried into action, m sensations or
emotions it distorts everything The speeches I heard yesterday on the
radio are a proof of this

It is not given to so many Frenchmen to be constantly aware of the
nation’s great affliction One is much more likely to experience in-
dividual sufferings, for most people, this means the inconvenience of
the restrictions, the discomfort of exile, the fear of tomorrow’s famine
If the German domination were to assure us abundance, nine French-
men out of ten would accept it, and three or four of those with a smile
And there is no occasion to be shocked by this, any more than by
what I am saying of it Those who are capable of being genuinely
moved for intellectual reasons are very rare, 81 capable of suffering
from nonmatenal deficiencies And perhaps it is better that it is so
Hitler’s great achievement consists in having made the youth of his
country want something other than comfort But the spirit of conquest
and domination is still a relatively easy thing to inspire

81 This 13th of July I receive a letter from Maunac reassuring me about
his son Claude. It is dated the 9th In it I read “For public misfortunes our
sensitivity is more limited than we dare to admit ” [A ]

Journal 1940

3 1

10 July

In the eyes of obstinate partisans they will seem shamefully and
contemptibly to be “opportunists” who, not grantmg much importance
altogether to the regime or the social state, above all loathe disorder
and claim little else than the right to think and choose freely If it were
but granted me, I should rather gladly put up with constraints, it seems
to me, and should accept a dictatorship, which is the only thing, I fear,
that might save us from decomposition Let me hasten to add that I am
speaking here only of a French dictatorship

IS July

It requires considerable imagination, and of the rarest type imag-
ination within the reasoning faculty, to visualize the remote conse-
quences of a defeat and the way in which each may suffer from it Soli-
darity among all the citizens of a nation is not very firmly established,
at least in France, and but little felt, it remains an abstract thing, and,
moreover, for many has very little existence m reality It would have
been appropriate, not exactly to create it, but to inculcate this feeling
among the masses and the school-children To tell the truth, it is
through the privations it mvolves, and only thereby, or almost, that the
great majority will feel the defeat 32 Less sugar m one's coffee, and less
coffee m one's cup — that is what they will feel But since they will be
told that it is the same in Germany, these privations will seem to them
due not so much to the defeat as simply to the war, and they will not
be altogether wrong

The whole education of children ought to tend to raise their minds
above material interests But try to talk to the farmer of France's “in-
tellectual patrimony,” of which he will be very little inclined to recog-
nize himself as an heir Is there one among them who would not will-
ingly accept Descartes's or Watteau's being a German, or never havmg
existed, if that could make him sell his wheat for a few cents more? I
fear that we shall be obliged to witness a retrogression, an obliteration
of noble values, or at least their volatilization into the lealm of mys-
ticism, and this will be at one and the same time the most senous and
the most imperceptible of the items on the “bill ”

My heart is quite restored and reinvigorated by Mozart’s wonderful
Concerto in D Major admirably played by Wanda Landowska, of
which I have just heard the recording over the radio Strength and
kindness, grace, wit, and tenderness — none of these is absent from that
work (which I recognize note by note) any more than from the perfect

82 See Appendix I [A 1

32 Journal 1940

playing of the artist, one of my regrets will be not having heard her
more often

14 July

The patriotic feeling is, moreover, no more constant than our other
loves, which some days, if one were utterly sincere, would be limited
to very little, but one rarely dares to admit to oneself the small place
they occupy in our hearts at such times “And the resurrection of the
flesh,” says the Church, which knows the great need the soul has of
the body to become attached, and that, if the Word had not “become
flesh,” it would have few adorers 33 Can one imagine them bowed
down before a triangle? We are irremediably sunk m matter, and even
our most mystical loves cannot do without material images The con-
templation of the image excites and sustams the ecstasy which, with-
out some concrete sign to cling to, would subside We need symbols,
monuments, statues, flags, somethmg for sentiment to cling to, perches
to allow what flies up from our hearts, but could not long sustain its
flight, to alight 34 One can no more do without them than language
can do without metaphors In order to express itself the pious feelmg
invents the gesture, or adopts it, then slips away from under the ges-
ture, and soon the gesture substitutes for it, this allows the deficiencies
and absences of our sensitivity not to be too apparent

Today the national holiday, a day of mourning The general grief
can only be made up of the accumulation of all the individ ual griefs
As for the lost provinces, I fear that the peasant of the Midi doesn’t
give them a thought, the battlefields were too far away from him Yet
the mass of refugees came from there to warn him, to upset his happy
torpor To be sure, he is not incapable of sympathy and most often has
shown himself to be most obliging, but all the same the shops m the
tiniest villages have never been so well stocked, and this enters into
consideration, although it is not readily admitted

I am writing m this notebook (forbidding myself, for the moment,
to reread anything), letting my mind wander at will, notably in what
precedes, without any feeling, indeed, of disparagement or of blas-
phemy But, not much inclined to observe anniversaries, I must admit
that I do not feel particularly moved to emotion on this day My pro-

38 In this regard the Moslem reveals himself to be much more really
mystical than the Catholic and for this reason has rather great contempt for
him, as for all our Christian religion This is what I feel and must note upon
rereading these pages at Fez in December 1943 [A ]

81 What I said applies, it seems to me, only to us Occidentals The state
of mind (or, as people say today, the mentality) of Orientals and Arabs re-
mams, on this very important point, extremely different from ours [A ]

Journal 1940 33

found sadness over the loss of my native land is constant, but remains
latent, and I should be unable to express it

I am assiduously pursuing my reading of the Second Faust and dis-
cover in the Gesprache mit Eckermann many charming little touches
of naivet6 and bits of nonsense Under the date of 20 March 1831, this
for instance “It would be impossible to imagine m our day a great
painter of flowers, too much knowledge of natural history would be
expected of him The botanist counting stamens is insensitive to the
charm of colors and will fail to appreciate in the painting of a bouquet
the lighting and the picturesque grouping of the flowers ” (I am trans-
lating freely )

The only Frenchman m the hotel, I listen to today’s communique
in the company of four Belgians and three Austrians

15 July

Outside of my constant anxiety about those at Cuverville, I am
most particularly worried about Saillet and Thomas, among so many
others from whom I have not yet been able to get news Is it a pre-
sentiment? Or merely the trial of my affection for them? It is partly
because I was counting on them and basmg so much hope on them*
Where are they? Wounded or prisoners perhaps? With every mail I
expect a word from them They have probably written me and their
letters are following me, they are amazed to get nothing from me,
cannot believe m my indifference or forgetfulness Oh, how I should
like to see them again!

16 July

From Vichy, where he had to return, Arnold Naville, that most
faithful friend, sends me an article from Le Temps of 9 July on “The
Youth of France ” ( I am generally a very regular reader of Le Temps,
but cannot get it here ) That article, which makes him angry, takes
me to task and denounces, among others and specifically, my influence
over youth as a public danger, probably on die basis of the titles it
quotes of two of my books, Le T rente du Narasse and Ulmmorahste 35
It is “against that considerable, but baneful, influence that there must
be a reaction today,” it says, for I have presumably “founded a lam-
entable school, forming a vain and deliquescent generation " But did
not people take pleasure in pointing out that the men of that genera-
tion had fought rather valiantly m 1914? Yes, to be sure, it would say,

a5 The Treatise of the Narcissus and The Immorahst were first published,
respectively, in 1891 and 1902

^ Journal 1940

but only those, it so happens, who managed to escape my fatal dom-
ination What a strange idea that anonymous author of the article has
of the kind of influence my works exerted! If only he could know the
letters I receive from the young Protest, as Naville would like me to
do? As both ]udge and accused, I cannot Besides, what is the use?
In addition, that old accusation of “corrumpere juventutem” is more
likely i-hap praises to assure fame, this is generally known anyway,
and how ill founded it usually is But m this sorry period it might get
my writings banned It is not up to me, it is up to youth itself to de-
fend me, up to those who have read me to prove that I have not per-
verted them Doubtless the education of youth is today the most im-
portant task The article in question implies that people are inclined,
as in the past, to take youth, and themselves, m with empty phrases
The tendency toward grandiloquence is a shortcoming that I fear we
shall not get rid of so soon It is especially important to teach to chil-
dren (and for this purpose to possess it first oneself) what bears the
beautiful name of clairvoyance This is also what we most lacked be-
fore and during the war and what we most lack today, if I can judge
from this article To develop the critical sense m the child ought to be
the first and most constant effort of the teacher There is nothing better
against “nazism ”

The people of this district seem to those of the north almost in-
different and insensitive to the catastrophe that is mutilating France
It requires very rare qualities of heart and mind m order to be sin-
cerely moved by what does not touch us personally But here, as every-
where else, let us take care not to judge too quickly one can be de-
ceived by very different ways of expressmg and showing an emotion

17 July

A most interesting letter from Dr Cailleux, who took care of me so
devotedly during my recent kidney inflammation and who has just vol-
unteered in the navy (which allowed him to treat and save some of
those who returned from Mers-el-Kebir), which was given me by
Dorothy Bussy, and another from Roger Martin du Gard, whom the
storm has just tossed across invaded France, lead me to regret not
having been more directly tried by the war After all, I shall have
known nothing of it save at second hand, shall have suffered from it
only through sympathy The “intellectual” who aims first and foremost
to take shelter loses a rare opportunity to learn something The imag-
ination is powerless to substitute for real contact and experience that
cannot be invented On this score at least, the real “profiteers” of the
war will be those who have directly suffered from it I am angry with

Journal 1940 35

myself, just now, for having stayed on the outside and for having
“profited” so little

Read much German of late I am learning lists of words, patiently
copied into a little notebook that I cariy on my walks It is probably a
little ridiculous at my age to still try to learn, and all this effort is quite
useless, but the moment I am not stretching toward something, I be-
come mortally bored and cease to enjoy life And yet I tell myself that
it is the state of pure and simple contemplation that it would be appro-
priate to achieve and m which it would be good to go to sleep My
mind is not yet sufficiently at peace for that, still too curious, too
greedy

19 July

The last few days, an avalanche of letters, long held up, which even-
tually come to me from Vence, by way of Vichy, whence great delays
Yesterday one from Thomas, at last, who says he has often written
me But still nothing from those at Cuverville

It seems that the Germans, until now at least, have respected pri-
vate property, certainly by command It is obvious that they are deal-
ing gently with us, the French are too much inclined to think that that
is quite natural, and yet it might well not last Isn't it to dissociate us
the more from England, now become the “common enemy,” that they
are momentaiily granting us special treatment, and also to hold some-
thing m reserve, possibilities of pressure when the moment comes to
sign the peace treaty? As for me, who, methodically and tempera-
mentally, always expect the worst, thus protecting my optimism and
making happmess of anything this side of the worst, I once more ad-
mire Hitler's consummate cleverness and the habitual stupidity of the
French, our illusory confidence m rights which, once conquered and
disavowed by our only ally, we have no means left of getting him to
respect, our incompetence It is on all this that he is speculating People
talk of “remaking France,” as if we were still free to remake it accord-
ing to our wishes, as if we were not at his mercy Doubtless it is good,
it is indispensable, to get back to work at once, but of whatever that
work produces we shall have only what he is willing to leave us, and
it will not be we who remake France, but he

Radiant midsummer days, on which I constantly repeat to myself
that it would only depend on man for this sorry earth on which we are
devouring one another to be so beautiful!

36 Journal 1940

The incompetence of our military leaders comes partly from the
fact that, outside of war and so long as it is not taking place, their
knowledge remains theoretical and ceases to correspond to the tech-
nical progiess that the adversary takes great care to let them overlook
They cann ot practically keep m training What skill would one have
a right to expect of a carpenter, even though he knew his plane thor-
oughly, if he had never been allowed to use it previously on some
boards and thus to acquire experience of his trade? Those across the
way had been able to keep their hand m Hitler had educated them m
a series of easy victories They came upon us already tiled m combat

In addition, what about the superiority of then arms, of their
number, of their discipline, of their impetus, of their confidence m
their leaders, of their unanimous faith in the Fuhrer? What did we
have to set up against them but disorder, incompetence, negligence,
internal divisions, decay? But what is the good of going back over
all that? In the present state of France she was no longer m a position
to hope for victory I am almost inclined to say that she did not deserve
it So that it soon appeared that she had hurled heiself mto the adven-
ture, or rather that she had let herself be dragged mto it, with danger-
ous impiovidence So that one can think today that it would have been
much better for hei had she been conquered m 1918 rather than to
win that deceptive victory which put the finishing touches on her
blindness and put her to sleep m decadence

Cabns, 22 July

Thanks to the exquisite kindness of Mme Roumens, I was able to
reach Carcassonne m her auto The buses from Quillan had become
impossible, loaded even on the roof with Belgians who were beginning
to be demobilized Having left Gmoles at nine m the morning, I was
able to see Alibert and Bousquet at Carcassonne I expected to take
the 2pm train for Marseille, but, having met Germaine Paulhan m
the street, I most willingly let myself be taken to Villalier to see the
survivors of the N R F , 36 with whom I lunched The Gaston Gallimards
are still without news of their son, and Gaston seems quite aged by
anxiety Paulhan is working and Les Fleurs de Tarbes* 7 he says, is al-
most finished Charming cordiality of them all.

86 NRF stands for the Nouvelle Revue Frangaise, to which a publish-
ing house under the same name was added soon after its founding in 1909
Gaston Galhmard was the business manager of the review and head of the
publishing house, and Jean Paulhan had been the editor m chief since 1925

87 The Flowers of Tarbes or The Reign of Terror in Literature , a senes
of subtle essays on style, was first published in book form m 1941, though
several fragments had appeared m periodicals between 1925 and 1939

Journal 1940 37

I return to Carcassonne to see Akbert and Bousquet again Dined
most pleasantly with Benda

Alibert accompanies me to the station where I am to take the tram
at 12 50 a m , but new orders prevent him from entering the station
Fortunately I had gone m the morning to check my luggage and to
get my ticket, otherwise I believe I should not have been able to get
m either The tram arrives so filled with Belgian soldiers that I give up
taking it But it is announced that a second one will follow half an hour
later (id est at 2 am ), m which I manage with great difficulty to
lodge my bag and suitcase On the other hand, the tram from Marseille
to Cannes is almost empty From Cannes to Grasse a bus But smce
the bus from Grasse to Cabris does not leave until 7 p m , I hire a pri-
vate car, which drops me at La Messugiere at teatime Happy to find
still here the Simon Bussys, who are preparing to return to Nice the
following morning The pleasure of finding my Cabris friends agam
makes up for a sleepless night

25 July

1 made a point of writing in this notebook yesterday, but these few
days’ interruption and my moves have broken the thread It required
the stagnation and idleness of Gmoles to permit an attempt at focus-
ing my thought Agam I feel nothmg m me but confusion and disorder

Read and reread much Goethe of late some poems, the beautiful
introduction to Farbenlehre , and, urged on by Eckermann’s admiration,
the Novelle , which really is unbelievably silly ( blissful ) 88 Goethe
could not have written it at present It is doubtless impossible to speak
of progress m the realm of art, but he would have seen that nothmg
but the specific individuality of the notations can sustam the interest
of such a tale, m which everything is invented, constructed “at will”,
and to prove what? That kindness achieves more than violence?

That the wildest forces of nature, when tamed, can be of use?

That poetry and music overcome the most savage instincts? That
the trusting simplicity of a child wins out when brutality fails?
Obviously, but what wins out here is artifice A work of art cannot be
achieved by the mere application of good rules, and moreover those
that Goethe has applied in this brief tale are most debatable Likewise,
Goethe would blush today at many of his reflections on painting, which
Eckermann has handed down to us The arts have evolved m a manner
that he could not foresee, and certain great painters have appeared
all of whose work rises up against his theories It is amusing to note

88 The Novelle was translated by Thomas Carlyle as Goethe 9 $ Novel and
by others as A Tale, the Farbenlehre is known in English as Goethe’s Theory
of Colors

38 Journal 1940

that in many other fields likewise the most advantageous path has been
cut m a direction in which he foiesaw nothing but a dead end And,
furthermore, this which is very serious his whole intelligence, how-
ever spontaneously inquisitive it was, did not keep him from thinking
that he had to direct his cunosity away from what he judged human
intelligence to be incapable of ever achieving (Lord! how complicated
my sentence is^ — but no more so than my thought) and m regard to
which inquiry seemed to him useless astronomy or prehistory, and
any problem concerning origins, initial formations Some of the
lofty problems he refused to envisage, through fear and dislike of dis-
appointment, are the very ones m which the mind, subsequently, has
risked its boldest excursions and with the most amazing advantage

Will it be said that France had ceased to be the great nation whose
role she continued to play? Just the same, I see no other nation on
earth that can assume that role today m her place, and it is essential to
convince her, to convince oneself, of this

If tomorrow, as it is to be feared, fieedom of thought, or at least of
the expression of that thought, is refused us, I shall try to convince my-
self that art, that thought itself, will lose less thereby than m excessive
freedom

We are entering a period m which liberalism is going to become the
most suspect and least practicable of virtues

27 July

Dr Cailleux (who treated me with such utter devotion during my
recent attack of kidney mflammation and who has just joined the navy,
thus getting an opportunity to save some of the survivors of Mers-el-
Kebir) lends me a Revue de Tans m which I enjoy reading an excellent
article by Thenve on Zola, which I would gladly endorse, and a study
on Germany, signed XXX, which does not satisfy me at all Would it
not be appropriate, instead of outlining the shortcomings that led the
German people to victoiy, to point out the eminent qualities that
brought the French people their defeat ( a defeat that will perhaps pre-
vent those qualities from continuing to exist)? I am speakmg ironically,
for one cannot make our qualities or our virtues responsible for our
defeat, but rather the ruinous shortcomings that were m a way their
coimterpart, and which we do not yet seem to be making any effort to
get rid of

It is true that the Frenchman is moved by a need for perfection
probably more often than any other modern people, that the sense of
perfection 1 $ inseparable from the idea of measure and, consequently,
of limitation, so that that very perfection necessarily involves, m art.

Journal 1940 39

a certain contraction — indeed, even narrowing (much more apparent
than really profound, moreover) — of the theater and field of thought
And it was likewise the invitation to a rapid sclerosis, agamst which
the extraordinary outbursts of romanticism and of so many powerful
individuals, m painting as well as in literature, protested

It is likewise true that the German, less a draftsman than a mu-
sician (the reflections I noted on this subject more than twenty years
ago still seem to me quite correct today), delights in the vagueness
of the disproportionate And that this need of restless expansion, of
evasion into the unformulated and the unformed, readily slips toward
a desire for conquest, we have seen at our expense It remains for us to
see, however, whether or not that sudden leapmg of boundaries, that
excessive expansion, are reconcilable with the equilibrium of an or-
ganism

I am rereading excellent pages of Suares m Presences , 39 concerning
Dostoyevsky, Musset, Loti, etc There are few men with whom I should
have more enjoyed conversing, if only his vanity had not set up so
many and such absurd obstacles to that

28 July

Indulgence Indulgences That sort of puritan rigor by which
the Protestants, those spoilsports, often made themselves so hateful,
those scruples of conscience, that uncompromismg integrity, that un-
shakable punctuality, these are the things we have most lacked Soft-
ness, surrender, relaxation in grace and ease, so many charming qual-
ities that were to lead us, blindfolded, to defeat

And, most often, mere ignoble absence of constraint, listlessness
Les Ronds de cmr , which I have just tried to reread, has plunged
me into a fit of indescribable blues 40 “It’s Daumier, I am told Not
at alT Daumier was satire, Daumier stigmatized what Courtehne
seems to put up with He delights m abjection, sides with the trickster,
the malingerer What can one expect from such second-rate humanity,
the portrait of which is only too exact, alas! Kindly, indulgent portrait
m which so many Frenchmen recognize themselves, or at least one
recognizes so many Frenchmen!

Sorry reign of indulgence, of indulgences

89 Presences , first published m 1925 and enlarged the following year, is
a collection of essays on Musset, Moliere, d Annunzio, and others

40 Georges Courteline’s novel in tableau form, The Stick-in-the-Mud
Pen-Pushers (or, as we might say today. The Chavr-Bome Infantry ), de-
picts French bureaucrats Though first published m 1893 and a favonte with
the French, it has never been translated into English

Journal 1940

Ah yes, I laugh with Courtehne, at tunes irresistibly, but the laugh-
ter over, nothing remains but despair

12 August

The NR F

“The only ones in whom they recognized real ability were their
friends,” it used to be said Would it not have been fairer to say “The
only ones they recognized as friends were those who had real ability”?
The group that was formed here, contraiy to all the surrounding
groups, deigned to take into account only the quality of writings and
not their color Nothing was harder to get accepted, even by some of
our contributors

As for me, I maintain that there is no country m Europe that has
more to lose from a unification of opinion, of thought, and that is more
impatient of it, than France Yet that is what we tend toward today

20 August

A long time, again, without writing anything but letters Charming
stay at Cap d’Antibes, in the company of Marc Allegret, the Rene
Lefevres, the Marcel Achards, then at Vence, at Hugues’s, whose wel-
come is most cordial

La Messuguiere again houses me, and m its calm I try to resume
my thoughts I feel more ad libitum than ever and cannot succeed in
forming a lasting opmion on events, or even in “taking a stand” reso-
lutely from day to day There is no protest in me against the ineluc-
table, but I cannot push my amor fati to the point of accepting the
disaster That implies too great a surrender of what is dearest to my
heart Meanwhile I go about persuading myself, or trying to persuade
myself that what constitutes my reason for living cannot be touched
by the defeat I am not entirely convinced of it

21 August

Two years ago, reading Marie Delcourt’s remarkable Euripide, 41 I
had been sadly surprised by the little attention she seems to give to
The Bacchantes That tragedy seemed to me, not perhaps more ad-
mirable than others, but more disturbing, more revelatory, and it had
been more decisive for me when I first read it, yet Mane Delcourt
speaks of it only in passing Having the great good fortune to be at
Cabris with her, both of us guests, together with Jean Schlumberger
and Curvers, of our friend Loup, I tell her of my astonishment They
unanimously admit laughingly that in regard to The Bacchantes they
feel “the same boredom as m regard to Shakespeare’s Tempest ” All

41 The Life of Euripides by the Belgian scholar first appeared in 1930

Journal 1940 41

this said lightly, humorously, and quite candidly Giving great credit
to their judgment, I reread the play, question myself

Doubtless the profound impression made by my first reading owed
a great deal to its timeliness I encountered The Bacchantes at the tim e
when I was still struggling agamst the stifling effect of a puritanical
moral code Pentheus' resistance was mine to the suggestions of a se-
cret Dionysus On the path I glimpsed then I feared to find but dis-
order and disharmony "I say there is no good in these orgies,” Pen-
theus protests until the moment when the messenger comes to warn
him no, those women dominated by the god, the Bacchantes, were not
indulging in shameful debauch, “drunk with wine and the sound of
flutes and pursuing Cypns m the solitary woods”, but, crowned with
smilax and ivy, they were sleeping under the foliage of firs and oaks,
“their heads modestly resting on the ground,” or “were dancing in har-
monious figures ” The crude rock, struck by their thyrsus, ran abun-
dantly with honey, wine, and milk It was only when threatened and
forced that they became furious

That admirable play took its place m my mind beside Ibsen's
Ghosts or Empeior and Galilean and Goethe's Roman Elegies It is
very closely lmked to Hippolytus with the Crown, which shows a
similar refusal and in which the god likewise takes revenge for the
rejection

Moreover, Euripides takes sides no more than does Ibsen, it seems
to me It is enough for him to throw light on and set foith the conflict
between natural forces and the soul that intends to elude their domina-
tion Pride is involved and similarly exposed Pentheus praises himself
excessively for his resistance, then Agave, under an illusion like Ajax,
likewise congratulates himself for havmg accomplished a superhuman
deed

And, from an entirely different angle, I recognized m the scene of
Pentheus' disguise the disguise, so tragic, of Lorenzaccio 42 agreemg,
the better to approach the one he wants to kill, to put on his livery for
a while Each of them is caught in his own game, trapped by his own
device

Rereading that play today, “I recognize the scars of the prejudices
it took from me when first I read it ' (Stendhal uses this image m re-
gard to Buffon See his Journal , 29 Pluvi6se 1803 )

I should like to transcribe as an epigraph for The Bacchantes the
two sentences from Goethe that I set down here the day before yester-
day

Sie freut sich an der Illusion

Wet dtese tn swh und andern zerstdrt, den

42 In Musset's comedy of Lorenzaccio

42

Journal 1940

Straff ste ah der strengste Tyrann Wer
Ihr zutrauhch folgt , den druckt sie
Wte em Kind an ihr Herz

(Goethe Die Natur ) 48

I should like to write, if only out of gratitude, 111 praise of the works
that taught me to know myself, that formed me The great defect of
St le gram ne meurt is that I do not tell m it who were my initia-
tors There would be substance m this for another book, on a quite
different plane But it is fifteen years ago that I should have writ-
ten it

I shall continue to cover the pages of this notebook as if nothing
were happening By nature little inclined toward complaints, even less
toward sulkiness, I attribute small value to certain superficial liberties
m which art has everything to lose and the mmd very little to gam

26 August

How at one and the same time can the days seem to me so trag-
ically short and I be unable to fill them? Is not that perhaps the chief
evidence that I am aging? If only I could harness myself to some
long task* I have tried to get back to the preface for the An -
thologie , 44 but I have such trouble formulating the least thought that
it seems to me I have forgotten how to wnte Everything I experience
at present is too remote from words, I am marking time m the moving
sands of the inexpressible

28 August

I am rereading Kafka’s The Trial with an even greater admiration,
if that is possible, than when I discovered that amazing book

However skillful Groethuysen’s pieface may be, it does not wholly
satisfy me, it tells us far too little about Kafka himself His book eludes
all rational explanation, the realism of his descriptions is constantly en-
croaching upon the imaginary, and I could not say what I admire the
more the "naturalistic” notation of a fantastic universe, but which the
detailed exactitude of the depiction makes real m our eyes, or the un-
erring audacity of the luiches into the strange There is much to be
learned from it

43 "She [Nature] takes delight in illusion He who shatters it m himself
and in other men, him she chastises as the harshest tyrant He who follows
her trustingly, him she gathers to her heart like a babe ” (Translation of the
ode m prose entitled Nature made by Agnes Arber in Goethe's Botany )

44 Doubtless his Anthology of French Poetry , which was not published
until 1949

Journal 1940 43

The anguish this book gives off is, at moments, almost unbearable,
for how can one fail to repeat to oneself constantly that hunted crea-
ture is I

30 August

X , the only one from the USSR with whom I have been able to
feel “comfortable,” told me of a conversation he had with Lunacharsky
The latter was consulting him about the means of protecting culture,
which he felt to be m great danger “Why try to protect it?” X asked
him “Let those who are working to destroy it go ahead And even help
them” His voice was trembling, and with a touching stammer he
added “That is the only way that there will be some chance, later on,
of finding some remains of it m the catacombs ”

Culture, too, like the seed m the Gospel, needs to sink into the
tomb m order to burst forth again

31 August

I did not know these Etudes critiques of Gobmeau, 45 which I find
m Loups library I read m the fiist of these studies

“Whatever may be said against our century” (written m 1844), “the
best literature can boast of such names as Bei anger, Lamennais,
George Sand, Hugo, Lamartine, with such lights an epoch might go
astray, but it could not be justly said that it has lost its feeling in mat-
ters of art ”

Such a judgment, on the contrary, simply shows to what a degree
that “feeling” was lost, for Gobmeau is merely repeating here the
opinions of his epoch He is not revealing his own taste here the first
three names he cites may well surprise us today, but they then en-
joyed, and particularly the first one, universal approval Goethe fre-
quently speaks of Beranger m dithyrambic terms, 46 which lead us to
wonder if we are not unjust and if nothing really remains of a work
that then seemed so worthy of admiration I have recently skimmed
through again the collection of Berangers Chansons 47 without finding
a thing m them that does not seem to me vulgar, flat, and tedious Does
this amount to saying that our epoch has better taste? Or merely a
different taste? I often stop to wonder if, among the writers we praise
and the artists we piefer, there are not some from whom the following

45 Critical Studies (1844-8), not published until 1927, is a collection of
Gobmeau’s neglected journalistic criticism of Balzac, Musset, Gautier, Heme,
Jules Janm, and Samte-Beuve

46 See quotation from Lamartine [A ]

47 Various collections of Berangers Songs , expressing perfectly the spirit
of the average man, appeared from 1815 to 1833

^ Journal 1940

generation will turn away On the other hand, the men of the futuie
will be amazed that we failed to recognize at once as important some
to whom we have failed to give what will be thought their due, which
will be subsequently showered upon them, as was done for Baudelaire
and Rimbaud

In Renan’s time the tendency was to consider the most serious lit-
erature as the most lasting, and this was very stupid But are we any
wiser today in our preferences, and will they not likewise amaze the
men of the future?

2 September

I have written, and am ready to write agam, this, which strikes me
as a self-evident truth “It is with fine sentiments that bad literature
is made ” 48 I never said, nor thought, that good literature was made
only with bad sentiments I might just as well have written that the
best intentions often make the worst works of art and that the artist
runs the risk of debasing his art by wanting it to be edifying I take
care not to add always, the example of Peguy keeps me from that,
but, aside from the fact that I consider very ordinary (to speak with
moderation) the lines so often quoted from his Eve , 49 1 claim that those
who admire them leave the realm of art and take a very different point
of view, that of the priest or the major-general can coincide with that
of the poet only most accidentally It is none the less true that a litera-
ture may be more or less virile and virilizing and that ours, m the mam,

48 In his Dostoievsky (1923) he had added to Blake’s Proverbs of Hell
two others of his own invention “It is with fine sentiments that bad litera-
ture is made”, and “There is no work of art without collaboration of the
demon ”

49 Doubtless the lines beginning

Heureux ceux qui sont morts pour la terre charnelle ,

Mats pourvu que ce flit dans une juste guerre
Heureux ceux qui sont morts pour quatre corns de terre
Heureux ceux qui sont morts (Pune mort solennelle
These lines are translated by Anne and Juhan Green in Basic Verities , by
Charles P6guy (New York Pantheon Books, 1943), pp 275-7, as follows
Blessed are those who died for carnal earth
Provided it was in a just war
Blessed are those who died for a plot of ground
Blessed are those who died a solemn death
In translation the poem ends

Blessed are those who died, for they have returned
Into primeval clay and primeval earth
Blessed are those who died in a just war

Blessed is the wheat that is ripe and the wheat that is gathered m
sheaves

Journal 1940 45

was not It had other virtues, which it runs the risk of losing if, on
order or through need, it seeks to acquire artificially those that are not
natural to it

That, for a time, the art of Clodion or of Carpeaux should be less
appreciated than that of Rude or of Barye, it may be, but it amounts
to distorting judgment to rate art according to its moral efficiency

5 September

To come to terms with ones enemy of yesterday is not cowardice,
it is wisdom, and accepting the inevitable “Untersuchen was 1 st, und
mcht was behagt ” 50 Goethe says excellently Whoever balks at fate is
caught in the trap What is the use of bruising oneself agamst the bars
of ones cage? In order to suffer less from the narrowness of the jail,
there is nothing hke remammg squarely m the middle

I feel limitless possibilities of acceptance m me, they m no wise
commit my innermost self The much greater risk for the mind is let-
ting itself be dominated by hatred As for restricting my comfort and
pleasures, I am quite ready To tell the truth, my aging body cares
little It would probably not be the same if I were twenty, and I con-
sider that the young are more to be pitied today than the old In
order not to have to distort one’s thought, it will perhaps be neces-
sary to keep silent, those who will have to suffer most from this are
those who have not yet spoken

9 September

I have been braver in my writings than m my life, respecting many
things that were probably not so respectable and giving much too
much importance to the opmion of others Oh, what a good Mentor
I should now be for the man I was in my youth! How effectively I
should be able to drive myself to extremities^ If I had hstened to my
own advice (I mean the man I once was, listening to the one I am to-
day), I should have gone around the world four times and I
should never have married As I write these words, I shudder as at an
act of impiety This is because I have remained nevertheless very much
in love with what most held me in check and that I cannot affirm that
that very check did not get the best out of me

I believe that it is harder still to be just toward oneself than to-
ward others

In my Vie de TMsSe,* 1 Mmos and Rhadamanthus, those two broth-
ers and future judges m the underworld, will never be of the same

50 ‘‘To investigate what is and not what pleases *

61 When this work finally appeared m 1946, it was entitled, not Life of
Theseus^ but simply Theseus No such scene as this figures m it

^6 Journal 1940

opinion about anyone ^Eacus and Rhadamanthus, when it comes
time to judge Pasiphae, will out of delicacy agree to take advantage of
an “absence* * of Mmos and to pardon her

I am writing this between three and four m the morning, unable to
sleep During a similar insomnia yesterday, I read Marguerite Your-
cenar’s amazing article on the amazing poet Kavafis — and his poems
translated by her and by Constantm Dimaras, whom I remember hav-
ing met m Athens m 1938 I recall that I had liked him very much He
read us (we were gathered together with Robert Levesque and a few
others) some poems, not by him, but by Kavafis I believe

12 September

Upon reading the notebook that Thomas lent me, I enjoy it even
more, and more profoundly, than I had hoped If he had died at the
front, these pages, when published, would have instilled new con-
fidence, hope, and vigor m many The writing is excellent, aheady rich
in substance, harmonious and beautifully ordered “In uncertain
dreams are already sketched out vaguely the great figures of eternity *

Picked up Holderhn again, whom I certainly understand much
better To convince myself of the uselessness of any progress at my
age would be the worst gloom of old age Repose m contemplation
does not suit me and I scarcely can be satisfied with it I like myself
only when active and straining Straining toward what, great
God? Oh, for the moment, merely toward self-development

Zu wild , zu bang tsfs nngsum , und es
Trummert und wankt ja wohtn ich bltcke ! 52

But m my inner sky the same constellations sparkle, otherwise I
should find it hard to understand, having to navigate in uncertainty
and under this European sky now stripped of stars, why I do not feel
more gloomy

IS September

The number of stupidities that an intelligent person can say m a
day is not believable And I should probably say just as many as others
if I were not more often silent

14 September

Before giving them to Thomas to read, I have just reread, for the
first time, the pages of this notebook The only ones that seem to me

52 “It is too wild and too frightening round about and indeed
Things fall apart and reel wherever I look!”
are lines 3-4 of Holderlm’s Der Zeitgeist, written between 1798 and 1800

Journal 1940 47

to deserve attention and for which I still have regard are those without
any direct relation to events, which I should have written just as well,
it seems to me, at any other time It is only in its timeless elements that
thought can remain valid, in the qualities that circumstances, however
adverse they may be, are and will be unable to modify

20 September

Read much German these last few days, Goethe’s Roman Elegies
charm me perhaps less than when I understood them less well and
when the sensual paradise they offered seemed to me less easy to at-
tain

Tomlinsons All Hands (in translation) disappointed me, I did not
find m it the delight I took m reading The Sea and the Jungle It is true
that I read the latter m the original

Many poems of Hebbel Mane Del court’s Eschyle 63 with great in-
terest and profit

22 September

Even Carco (Figaro of 21 September) sings the return to the soil
This is what Barres would have called the “withdrawal to ones min-
ima ” It may be that this “return” is expedient, but failing to see that
it is a withdrawal, and that this withdrawal plays into Hitler s hands, is
what seems to me lamentable To reduce France’s productivity to the
domam of agriculture, while keeping industrial, commercial, and in-
tellectual power for himself, is his plan, and to keep for himself un-
limited possibilities of levy on our subjugated agricultural production,
what could be more clever?

This does not mean that I look upon this “return to the soil” as bad,
but I am frightened by the blindness of those who fancy that such a
return will allow France to nse again, of those who see m this with-
drawal a promise of rebirth I see in it nothing but retreat and resig-
nation

Doubtless it is good, it is wise to be resigned when one cannot do
otherwise, and as for me, I am m no wise inclined toward revolt But
it is bad not to see clearly, not to understand, what this “return to the
soil” means

24 September

All my love for France could not keep me from bemg aware of our
country's state of decay To my constant awareness of that decay it
merely added a great melancholy It was obvious that that was leading
us to the abyss The shock of the war merely hastened the mm of a

53 JEschylus appeared in 1935, five years after the same scholar’s Life of
Euripides

48 Journal 1940

state already quite undermined Then came the sudden and utter col-
lapse of an edifice hollowed out by termites What remains of France
after that disaster? Still many virtues, the rarest and most beautiful m
many dom ains , but disjointed and unemployed as they were before the
war, and unable today to catch hold of themselves and unite among
the rums We are living in the expectation of further blows that will
strike us even lower Is it wise to try to rebuild before the foundation
has been strengthened? I am making a virtue of patience

It strikes me today that I have not always been utterly sincere and
that I have sometimes shown, for the sake of others, more confidence
and hope and joy than I really had in me

27 September

In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck Impeccable translation of a
most remarkable book If I were less tired, I should enjoy praising it
But I could do so only at too great length It is the best (psychological)
portrayal that I know of Communism, and perfectly lighted If it leaves
the capitalist and bourgeois counterpart m the shadow, at least it very
cleverly gives one a glimpse of this m the dialogues, and that is
enough The mam character is the crowd, but fiom that amorphous
and vague mass there stand out various individuals m whom the varie-
gated aspects of the problem are set forth without the discussion s ever
cluttering and interrupting the action And likewise there stand out
agamst the vast general movement, m harmony or opposition with the
great wave of common interests, the passions or individual interests of
the leaders or minor characters, and all this presented so fairly that
one cannot take sides for or agamst the flood of demands any more
than the author has done The legitimacy of those demands, like the
outcome of the struggle itself, remains “dubious ” Especially dubious
the legitimacy of using treacherous means to bring about the triumph
of even the most legitimate cause But Steinbeck reveals admirably
(yet without demonstrating anything) how those who are refused all
other means of fighting are led and forced to treachery, injustice, de-
liberate cruelty, and how the noblest and most generous characters are
distorted thereby Whence the great distress inherent throughout this
beautiful and painful book

When a certain stage of history is reached, everything appears in
the guise of a problem And man's responsibility increases as that of
the gods decreases

It devolves upon man alone, m the final reckoning, to solve all these
problems which he alone has presumably raised

Journal 1940

49

28 September

If tomorrow, as I fear, all freedom of thought or at least of expres-
sion of that thought is denied us, I shall try to convmce myself that
art, that thought itself, will lose less thereby than through excessive
freedom Oppression cannot debase the best, and as for the others, it
matters little Hurrah for thought held m check* The world can be
saved solely by a few It is m non-liberal epochs that the free mind
achieves the highest virtue

29 September

Roger Martin du Gard has kindly gone to the trouble of copying
out for me a judgment in dialogue form ( why m dialogue form smce
the two interlocutors bray m the same key?) by Claudel on Goethe —
extracted from Figures et paraboles 54 — which I did not know These
pages are hilariously silly and unjust Seeing m Faust “an atmosphere
of despair, of calamities and frenzy, an environment suggestive of the
cemetery and the madhouse,” amounts to revealing too clearly what
one would like to find in it

“Everything ends with the grave-digging lemurs” This is
what Massis 55 would call a “judgment ”

“Calm yourself! You are frothing at the mouth,” the other inter-
locutor interrupts

No, keep on, rather This is all most edifying, I am wrong to greet
it with laughter it is less laughable than revoltmg Such denials of
justice can engender nothing but hatred I rest my heart and mmd by
reading m the Gesprache mit Goethe “ Dumont (?) erwiderte Goethe ,
1 st eben em gemaszigter Ltberaler wie es alle vernunftigen Leute smd
und sem sollen, und me ich selber es bin und in welchem Smne zu
wirken ich wahrend ernes langen Lebens mich bemuht hahe ” 56 (S
February 1830 )

We are entering a period in which liberalism will become the most
suspect and least practicable of virtues

Nietzsche’s reflections, which open the first of his Unzeitgemasse
Betrachtungen , 57 on the danger of victory (after 1870) are excellent,
and of great profit when reread today It would be a great mistake to

Claudel brought out in 1936 a collection of essays entitled Figures
and Parables

55 Henri Massis, a Catholic critic, wrote two volumes of essays entitled
JugementSy in the second of which he disposed of Andr6 Gide

66 “The point is,” Goethe replied, “that Dumont is a moderate liberal
as all reasonable people are and ought to be, and as I am myself, and this
has been the intention of my work during a long life ”

57 Thoughts out of Season

£ 0 Journal 1940

think, he says m substance, that the victory of our armies implies like-
wise the triumph of German culture and that there is any occasion to
weave garlands for that culture “That error,” he continues, “would be
most dangerous, not just because it is an error — for there are produc-
tive errors — but because it might turn our victory into a defeat, yes
defeat (subjection) of the German mind for the greater advantage of
the German Empire ”

And Nietzsche goes on to note that the cultures of the two coun-
tries were in no wise involved m the war of 1870 and by no means met
m opposition Discipline, seventy, stubbornness m combat, prestige of
the leaders, sheeplike submission of the soldiers all elements that
have no connection with any culture whatever, permitted victory over
an adversary who lacked the most effective of these elements

The last three nights have been better If I did not know my age
“by heart” and constantly remind myself of it, I should hardly be aware
of it and even then should not suffer from it Only I am less venture -
some, and the inner urge is less keen

Nietzsche’s fine reflections on the advantages of forgetting, which
I was reading yesterday at the begmnmg of the second of his Thoughts
out of Season, lead me to believe that it is to that above all that I owe
my extraordinary disposition and propensity toward happiness, to that
antihistoricity of my mind, which on the other hand may offer serious
disadvantages

9 October

Of late I have yielded again and more than ever to the pleasure of
reading Loups library, however broken up it may be from moving, is
still so well provided that I could spend three years here without ex-
hausting its resources

Read especially in German In French, some Saint-Evremond with
delight, picked up the Memoires d’outre-tombe 58 once more, only to
find the same reasons for admiring the amazing artist and being exas-
perated by the actor constantly setting himself off to advantage, never
stumbling or finding himself at a loss Since he is constantly concerned
with the effect he is aiming to produce, his deeds and words have no
other import than that very effect He would take away my enjoyment
of life if life were to be but such a vain show with the ever present
foretaste of death Religion, it goes without saying, has no trouble set-
ting itself up on that dreadful emptiness and taedium vitae, the cross
can rise up without difficulty when it is the Spes umca Finally, that
love of tombs, that perpetual commemoration, those recalls of a dead

58 Chateaubriand’s Memoirs from beyond the Grave

Journal 1940 51

past, that poetic ennui yawning and stretching through everything,
cause me to applaud more vigorously the praise of historical forget-
fulness sung so wonderfully by Nietzsche, which I was reading the day
before yesterday m the second of his Thoughts out of Season

12 October

Art inhabits temperate regions And doubtless the greatest harm
this war is doing to culture is to create a profusion of extreme passions
which, by a sort of inflation, brmgs about a devaluation of all moder-
ate sentiments The dying anguish of Roland or the distress of a Lear
stripped of power moves us by its exceptional quality but loses its spe-
cial eloquence when reproduced simultaneously m several thousand
copies Isolated, it is a summit of suffering, in a collection, it becomes
a plateau I sympathize with the individual, m the multitude I become
bewildered The exquisite becomes banal, common The artist does not
know which way to turn, intellectually or emotionally Solicited on all
sides and unable to answer all appeals, he gives up, at a loss He has
no recourse but to seek refuge in himself or to find refuge m God
This is why war provides religion with easy conquests

14 October

The very long (but not too long) dialogue of Riemer with Char-
lotte m Thomas Mann s Lotte m Weimar, which I am reading with
great application at first and then rereading immediately afterward
with rapture, strikes me as extremely intelligent, a marvel of literary
and psychological penetration throwing light on the character of
Goethe and on the functioning of his genius Furthermore, wonder-
fully situated in the book, m relation to the plot and the characters
even more cleverly than the too long conversations (it seems to me) of
Der Zauberberg 59 This reveals an accomplished art and it increases
the stature of Thomas Mann in my eyes

Certainly I am making progress m German And yet it does not
seem to me that I am leading Lotte tn Weimar today much more easily
than I did Der Zauberberg a few years ago

Oh, why did I not put forth such an effort m my early youth* But
at that time it seemed to me much more important to taste life directly,
to push away the screen of books and everything education mterposed
that might hamper the sincerity and innocence of my vision Was I
wrong? I cannot get myself to believe so And even if I thought so,
what could I do about it? Nothing more useless than regrets

59 Der Zauberberg ( The Magic Mountain ) appeared in German m 1924,
and Lotte m Weimar (The Beloved Returns) in 1939

p Journal 1940

There are always certain regards in which the most intelligent of
women, in her reasoning, remains below the least intelligent of men
A sort of conventional agreement takes place, involving considerable
regard for the sex “to which we owe our mother,” for many a lame ar-
gument that we should not accept if it came fiom a man I am well
aware that, nevertheless, their counsel may be excellent, but on condi-
tion that we constantly rectify it and expurgate from it that element
of passion and emotivity which almost always, in a woman, sentimental-
izes thought

To love the truth is to refuse to let oneself be saddened by it

There can be seen cropping out already and vying with one an-
other the vices that led to our downfall, for we are not and never shall
be cured of them taking words for realities and deceiving ourselves
with empty phrases Hitlers great strength comes from the fact that
he never tried to take in anyone but others with fine words He knows
what suits the French, alas, and that when they are told veiy force-
fully and very often that their honor is intact, they eventually almost
believe it “Loyal collaboration,” “neither victors nor vanquished” —
so many checks without funds, and one doesn’t know whether he who
issues them or he who accepts them is the bigger dupe Yet it seems
to me that the wise man, today, would be the one who did not show
too clearly that he knows he is a dupe and who consequently would
cease to be one though acting as if he were It is a dangerous game,
to be sure, but probably less so than a desperate resistance or, even
worse, a revolt, which at very least would be premature and would run
the risk of involving in horrible sanctions even those who had not taken
part m it

9 November

My thought remains so irresolute and uncertain, or rather so di-
vided, that it could properly express itself, I feel, only m dialogues like
those of Renan, or rather like those of my Enfant prodigue It is toward
this that I ought to work

I am taking much more pleasure and interest than I expected m
Renan’s Dialogues philosophiques Much better, it seems to me, than
his Dromes and written in a less negligent or neglected manner,
though too flaccid for my taste There is a great moral satisfaction in
correcting an injustice, certamly I used to underestimate Renan

12 November

I drop Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif in the last third of the
volume Too much wit and not of the best; underrating of the reader

Journal 1940 53

and fear of not holding his attention by the straightforward account of
research that is none the less captivating, need of constantly tickling
it by intervening indiscreetly

23 November

I finish rereading Werther not without irritation I had forgotten
that he took so long to die It is drawn out and one would eventually
like to take him by the shoulders and push him On four or five occa-
sions what one hoped to be his last sigh is followed by another even
more ultimate Frayed departures exasperate me

Then, to rest my mind and reward me (for I read German only
with effort and difficulty), I turn from German to English Each time
I plunge again into English literature I do so with delight What diver-
sity! What abundance I It is the literature whose disappearance would
most impoverish humanity

The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends
toward serenity

25 November

Looking for the moments of life that one would most enjoy reliving,
I begin to wonder if they are not those of pure physical pleasure, I
mean of purely sensual pleasure, in which no element of sentiment or
thought was involved. But I do not say that those are the moments I
should be most willing to relive, for however great may be the nervous
agitation they cause us, our mmost self is not greatly enriched by them

But what is the use of writing down these risky ratiocinations in-
stead of enjoying simply and immensely the divine spectacle unfold-
ing before my eyes The last, still warm rays of a sun about to dis-
appear behind the last shoulder of the mountains are flooding the
rolling landscape at my feet, giving the village houses, there on the
left, a caressing farewell lass and bathing with a golden tranquillity
the bench where I have sat down to write From each valley bluish
col umns of smoke arise and spread out broadly as a shroud would
spread over the world on the point of going to sleep

I ought at least to have dated these F euillets taken from my Journal,
which I have just reread with displeasure m the issue of the resusci-
tated NR F 60 1 am no longer in the same state of mind that made me

80 Temporarily suspended after the issue of June 1940 by die French
defeat, the Nouvelle Revue Frangatse resumed publication m December
1940 with a new editor, Pierre Dneu La Rochelle, who favored collabora-
tion with the enemy This explains how Gide*s Detached Pages appeared w

£4 Journal 1940

write them, a mind still filled with the defeat Furthermore, my reflec-
tions on the lapses and mtermittences of the patriotic sentiment no
longer seem to me quite fair There is nothing like oppression to give
that sen tim ent new vigor I feel it reawakening everywhere m France,
and especially in the occupied zone It assures and affirms itself m
resistance like any thwarted love And that struggle of the spirit
against force, of the spirit that force cannot dominate, bids fair to be-
come admirable Could it be that our defeat has at last reawakened
our virtues? Many an example justifies such a hope, and France shows
herself to have fallen less low than I at first feared

December

I find it hard not to be convinced that we should be much better
off if we had had the sense to recognize loyally our debts toward
America The great effort our country would have had to impose on
itself m order to acquit them, the rule of discipline, the discomfort,
would have been salutary to her, while preserving her sentiment of
national honor, which, alas, she learned to value too cheaply as a re-
sult of the violence done it on that occasion I think that our French
leaders underestimated the French people at that time, when it was
not difficult to convince them that their dignity, that the right to hold
up their heads and hearts, were worth the few vexatious restrictions
they would have had to accept, which, perhaps, by the recovery that
one could legitimately expect from them would have spared us today's
trials, much harsher and more mortifying

19 December

All human acts involve more chance than decision

Jean S points out to me that if I claim God to be the product of
man, I ought likewise to admit this for the Holy Virgin, and indeed a
product that it is much easier to achieve much more readily

A novelist’s imagination or anything that ordinarily constitutes a
creator is not generally attributed to me On the other hand, the crit-
ical mind is granted me, according to them, that is my strong point, it
is esteemed and many of my judgments of still unclassified works were
premonitory, it is recalled None the less, if, on the subject of this
or that new book, I happen not to share the opinion of Peter or Paul,
I am the one who rereads the book and wonders whether I am right,
not Peter or Paul

an apparently familiar review newly dominated by a different spirit Those
pages were made up of extracts from the Journal for late 1939 and 1940,
closing with the entry of 12 September

8 January

A

* • JTjL shift of which it is already impossible to be completely aware
My contributing to the review, the Femllets I gave to it, the very plan
of resuming publication — all that goes back to the period of dejec-
tion immediately following the defeat Not only was resistance not yet
organized, but I did not even think it possible To fight against the
inescapable seemed to me useless, so that all my efforts at first tried to
find wisdom in submission and, within my distress, to right at least my
thought

12 January

My toiment is even deeper, it comes likewise from the fact that I
cannot decide with assurance that right is on this side and wrong on
the other It is not with impunity that, throughout a whole lifetime, my
mind has made a practice of understandmg the other person I succeed
m this so well today that the ‘point of view” it is most difficult to keep
uppermost is my own

In this vacillating state of mine what decides, too easily, is sym-
pathy

Oh, I should like to be left alone, to be forgotten! Free to think m
my own way without its costing anyone anything and to express with-
out constraint or fear of censure the oscillation of my thought It would
develop m a dialogue as at the time of my Enfant prodtgue and would
simultaneously put forth branches in opposite directions This is the
only way that I might more or less satisfy myself 1

1 * Neither victors nor vanquished*” I do not much like that slogan It
implies on both sides a pretense so flattering for our self-esteem that I am
suspicious A "collaboration' such as is proposed to us today could not be
"loyal” when it is thus based on a he It is doubtless fine and noble and re-
assuring after a boxing match to see the opponents shake hands, but there
is no question of denymg that one has beaten the other We are defeated
As soon as we showed any inclination to doubt this, our opponent would be
able to remind us of the fact, let there be no doubt about it And if he
helps us to get to our feet today, this is only to allow us an effort from which
he plans to reap the profit He supposes quite rightly that our labor and the
production we can supply will be better (or, to speak more clearly, that our
output will be greater) if we are not reduced to slavery and if we keep the
illusion of working freely and for ourselves ”

"Is it therefore your opinion that we should refuse to play this game?”

"Perhaps be a party to it at first, and, if possible, without too much bit-
terness, but also without illusions, m order to avoid, subsequently, too bitter
a disappointment Shall I tell you just what I think? I believe it is good for

56 Journal 1941

I doubt if I would use that freedom of expression which is denied
us today especially for the purpose of protesting against despotism
Yes, I wonder if this constraint does not hamper me even more m the
other direction, for it takes away any value from everything I might
think just now or say that might seem to be in agieement with them.
Any advantage one may derive from it taints thought with self-interest

France to bend for a time under the yoke of an enforced discipline Just as
she was not capable, in the depths of moral laxity and decay into which she
had fallen, of winning a real victory over an enemy much better equipped
than she, a muted, resolute, tenacious, and pugnacious enemy skillfully led
by a man with his mind made up to override all the scruples that weaken
us, all the considerations that stand m our way, just so I do not believe
France capable today of rising to her feet again all alone and solely by her
own efforts I say ‘today' but as early as 1914 I wrote ‘We have every-
thing to leam from Germany, she has everything to take from us ' I abide
by that formula ” [See The Journals of Andre Gide , Vol II, p 220 ]

“Do you not feel something mortifying, insulting, and intolerable m what
you are saying?”

“The most elementary wisdom consists in taking things, people, and
events as they are and not as one would like, or would have liked, them to
be A wisdom we have often lacked, for we have a great tendency to take
words for things that exist and we are satisfied with a bit of eloquence One
has to play with the cards one has ”

“We hold excellent trumps 99

But they are scattered and we don't know how to use them properly
This is what keeps me from being too upset if the conqueror, with his fine
method, assumes responsibility for our hand, temporarily ”

“Those trumps will not endure giving up their freedom of self-determina-
tion”

“Too much liberty led to our downfall ”

And then you are leaving out the fact that the conqueror will not tol-
erate our revealing ourselves, in any domain whatever, as superior to him
He will manage in such a way as to subjugate our virtues and talents and
to discredit those that will not submit, our virtues and talents, our men of
virtue and talent ”

That may be, but what can we do about it? Besides, it occurs to me as
we are talking that the only virtues and talents I really value are uncoopera-
tive”

“The uncooperative will be brought to heel Yes, I recall that remark of
yours that you quote But I also recall another remark I have read in your
Journal It too comes from the period of the other war T sometimes think/
you wrote, T thmk with horror' (and, to be sure, it was justified!) ‘that the
victory we are longmg for is that of the past over the future ' [See The Jour-
nals of Andre G%de 9 Vol II, p 232 ] Well, you must be satisfied this time
the forces of the future have triumphed ”

“And, indeed, nothing saddens me more than seeing France at present

Journal 1941 57

Consequently, forgetting (or forcing myself to forget) that con-
straint for a time, if I let the voice of hell speak out, I hear it whisper
m my brain

“But after all, why and against what are you protesting? Have you
not said yourself ‘The family and religion are the two greatest enemies
of progress’? 2 Were you not wont to look upon humanity as it still is —
prostrate and sprawlmg — as abject? Were you not wont to scorn heart-
ily the paltry interests that keep man from rising above himself? Did
you not even write, at the time when your mind was bold 1 do not
love man, I love what devours him’? 3 A paradox doubtless, but not
altogether You meant, if I understood you correctly, that nothing
great or beautiful is achieved but by sacrifice, and that the loftiest rep-
resentatives of this miserable humanity are those m whom the sacri-
fice is voluntary Have you not constantly denounced as the worst ob-
stacle the cult of false gods? Are you not to be grateful to me for
paymg no attention to what you were accustomed to call so properly
‘fiduciary values* — that is, the ones that have no other reality than
what we grant them? Did you not discover, when you used to indulge
m gardenmg, that the only way of preserving, protecting, safeguarding
the exquisite and the best was to suppress the less good? You are well
aware that this cannot be done without apparent cruelty, but that such
cruelty is prudence

Immediately the other voice speaks up, heard perhaps less by my
brain than my heart “Why are you speaking of the best? The work
undertaken by him who aims to be the great gardener of Europe is
not so much superhuman as inhuman Probably, if he were to com-
plete it, there would remain on earth neither a voice to moan nor an
ear willing to hear it, and no one left to know or to wonder whether
what his force is suppressing is not of infinitely greater value than his
force itself and what it claims to bring us Your dream is great. Hitler,
but for it to succeed costs too dear And if it fails (for it is too super-
human to succeed), what will remain on earth, after all, but death and
devastation? Until the present moment this is the most obvious result
of your undertaking, and everything suggests that it will be the only
one”

expecting her salvation to come only from an attachment to everything about
her that is oldest and most worn out Their fine ‘National Revolution’ gives
me a pain in the neck If our country is to be reborn (and I firmly believe
that it will be), it will be in spite of that and against that I expect our sal-
vation to come from what is getting ready m the shadows and cannot emerge
into the light of day until tomorrow ” [A ]

2 See The Journals of AndrS Gide , Vol III, p 180
2 Spoken by Prometheus, the hero of Le Trom&thie mal enchatni
( 1899 )

58

Journal 1941

15 January

Often I am tempted, m the course of my daily reading, to draw up
a sort of anthology, the seed that I harvest here and there

In support of what I wrote yesterday, I find m Jean Schlumberger s
buef commentary on Thucydides a reflection that had not struck me
sufficiently during my earlier leadings Today it seems to me singularly
pertinent

“It is not through hatred of the Athenian demagogy/’ he says, “that
Thucydides listens to the arguments of Sparta It is through an inclina-
tion of the mind far rarer and more suspect , which compromises him
to the very roots of his will Thucydides wants to know ‘the affairs
of both sides/ not m order to penetrate the enemy's secrets, point out
the reasons for his successes, and bring out his weak points Does such
a desire rise to his heart in moments of impatience and fatigue? We do
not know Nowhere do we surprise such a weakness of his thought and
such a contraction of his emotion One must admit m him, even m
regard to Sparta , that impulse of sympathy and curiosity without
which there is no impartiality ”

I should like to know if Jean Schlumberger would still have writ-
ten these reflections, which he wrote in 1913, after the summer of 1914,
and if he thmks they are still pertinent m today's situation However
that may be, I recognize myself m them I make them mine I should
like not to take pleasure m doing so

As a counterpart, I should like to set down also m this notebook
these lines from L 9 Annie terrible , so gaily caustic and so painfully ap-
plicable to our policy of surrendering our principles

Why be heady? Jesus forgets the golden mean
When rejecting Satan s offer sight unseen ,

I dont say he should have accepted , but it’s odd
When so fair a devil meets an impolite God 4

16 January

What they are seeking and hoping for is a return to the past, and
that past, however pleasant it was for some, did not seem very respect-
able to me It may even be said that people took pleasure m a rather
shameful state of affairs Humanity seemed to me rather to deserve
slavery, and if only the slavery that threatened us, and still threatens

A quoi serf & it re a pic ? J4sus passe le but
En n examinant point Toffre de Belzibut ,

Je ne dis pas quit dHt accepter , mats cest bite
Que Dieu sort impoh quand le diable esi honnite
These lines are from Victor Hugo's The Dreadful Year (1872), inspired
by the Prussian siege of Pans

Journal 1941 59

us, had been a submission to nobler values, I am not sure that I might
not have gone so far as to welcome it Liberty seems to me deserved
solely by the man who could utilize it for an end other than himself or
who would demand of himself some exemplary development The
stagnation of the greatest possible number of repiesentatives of a
second-rate humanity m a second-rate everyday happmess is not an
“ideal 5 ’ to which I can lose my heart We can and must aim toward
something better

24 January

He (Hitler) discovers then to his own disadvantage that things are
not so simple as he liJked to think, that certam values he despised were
not altogether negligible, and that through constraint he runs the risk
of givmg renewed consciousness and vigor to what he mtended to sub-
jugate or suppress Indeed, persecutions act like plant-pruning, which
precipitates into the remaining buds all the sap that was previously
insufficient to nourish the whole shrub “Allow to die without trying
to kill 55 Hitler was familiar with this maxim, but he was too inclined to
fancy that m certam countries he would encounter nothing but dead
wood

9 February

At last I finish Grimmelshausen’s Simphcissimus (1670), that pa-
tient reading of the three volumes (that is, roughly a thousand pages)
took me about six weeks I should like to translate from this work,
which is so little known (m France at least) and so lemarkable, one
of the initial chapters (the hermits death and burial) and Chapters
xix, xx, and xxi of the sixth and last book under this title “The First
and Last Adventures of Simplicius Simphcissimus 55 5

Very curious to know whether Defoe knew that last adventure
when he wrote his Robinson Crusoe

Finished yesterday Arthur Koestlers Spanish Testament , very well
translated from the English by Denise Van Moppes (1939) Wonder-
ful book, invaluable document

11 February

A racy style that is almost excessively so Oh, how I like
Colette’s way of writing^ What unerring boldness m the choice of
words! What a nice feehng for the nuance! And all without seeming
to pay attention — the exquisite result of a painstaking elaboration

“I sat down rather glum before a piece of work undertaken with-

5 Whether or not Andr6 Gide made such a translation, it has not been
published

go Journal 1941

out appetite and forsaken without decision * This "forsaken without
decision” is a marvel of the intentional, discreet to the point of going
unnoticed by the average reader, most likely, which delights me

After BeUarVtsta > which is quite recent, I take up La Matson do
Claudme* which I did not yet know I enjoy readmg m it "Neither
my brothers' enthusiasm nor my parents’ disapproving amazement got
me to take an interest in The Three Musketeers Yes, I am glad not to
be the only one who failed to lose his heart to Dumas pere when my
companion in boredom is Colette Quite recently again, during the
three weeks when I was kept m bed by an attack of nephritis, Mme
Th6o brought me Monte-Cristo at my request, but it soon fell from my
hands without awakening the slightest curiosity for the complicated
tabulations of its puppets

To declare that one looks upon oneself as the most perfect repre-
sentative of classicism at the present time — what could be more im-
modest 1 I did so, Massis, only after having written that I held modesty
to be the first virtue of the classics, and thus I snatched away with one
hand the gift I was making with the other But it pleases you to recall
from my sally only the presumptuousness without deigning to see that
the affected presumptuousness was itself but a joke I even added, as
I recall, for greater humorous effect “The best representative of clas-
sicism, with Gonzague True and Julien Benda,” 7 in order to be quite
sure of not being taken seriously But Massis never uses anything from
a writing but what can serve his thesis He is one of the most dis-
honest minds I know, for whom everything is fuel when he wants to
bum someone else

23 February

Another "Proverb of Hell,” 8 a fine one, that I invent for Jean
Schlumberger, who tells me he no longer attaches any importance to,
or at least no longer feels bound by, the remarks on Thucydides that
he wrote m 1913, which, after copying them in this notebook, I reread
to him the other day He has developed, his point of view of today
seems to him superior to the one he shared with Thucydides * . • in
short

The promise of the caterpillar
Binds not the butterfly

8 Bella-Vista appeared in 1937 and Claudmes House m 1922

7 The passage is found in the Billets a Angdle (Notes for Angdle) m the
N R F of 1921, reprinted in Incidences

8 A recollection of the “Proverbs of Hell” in William Blake's Marriage
of Heaven and Hell, which Gide translated See The Journals of AndrS Gide,
VoL III, pp 277, 322

Journal 1941 61

I am reading, in another connection, a most amazing book by
Joubin on the Metamorphoses des anvmaux manns 9 It contains many
subjects for dramas But I imagme the dialogue between two inti-
mate friends (or husband and wife), one of whom had passed from
one condition to another — through progress, he would say — whereas
for the other it would seem treason not to remain faithful to his original
rule of conduct

28 February

1 am rereading Cmna once again with extreme rapture and admira-
tion Once more it strikes me as the play of Corneille that I prefer, it
lacks the bombast of certain others and it rises quite naturally to the
most sublime regions Did he ever write lines heavier with meaning,
more beautifully sonorous, bolder in syntax? To tell the truth, Crnna’s
love for fimilie, as well as Emilie's for Cmna, seems an intellectual
love, less affectionate than Cmna’s friendship for Auguste, but this too
is m keeping with the drama and mamtams a tension that never re-
laxes In Racine s tragedies love effeminates the heroes rather than
exalts them, here it fuses with esteem and draws forth the noblest and
best of which each is capable

In Act IV, scene iv, one set of characters takes the place of an-
other, there is no logical sequence, so that it may be said (and doubt-
less it has been already) that the play is in six acts, since die fourth is
made up of two 10

I am much inclined to include in my anthology the sixteen lines of
the dialogue between Auguste and Livie, beginning with
Cease yearning , Rome , for your freedom 11

They remam, as it were, buried m the play, and when standmg
alone take on an incomparable brilliance

6 March

My soul has remamed young to such a degree that I constantly feel
as if the septuagenarian I indubitably am is a role I am playing, and
the infirmities and failings that remmd me of my age come along
like a prompter to call it to my mmd when I might be inclined to for-

9 The Metamorphoses of Aquatic Animals by Louis Joubm (1926)

10 Indeed, the Emperor Auguste and his wife Lme leave the stage to
make way for Emilie, the instigator of the plotters This sudden change in
viewpoint reflects the audience's change of sympathy from China to his in-
tended victim, Auguste

11 Gide’s Anthologie de la poSste frangaise, which appeared in 1949,
contains neither these lines, beginning

Cesse de soupirer , Home, pour ta franchise
nor any others by Corneille

» * •

62 Journal 1941

get it Then, like the good actor I want to be, I slip back into character
and pride myself on playmg the part well

But it would be much more natural for me to surrender to the com-
ing spring, I am merely aware that I no longer have the proper cos-
tume for that

On Malrauxs recommendation I am readmg (after several tales by
Chekhov translated into English) The Demi , by Tolstoy, without man-
aging to see what he finds particularly wonderful in it But I note this
revelatory sentence that might be quoted as occasion arises

"The idea of baring his secret to his uncle, whom he did not esteem,
the thought that he was about to reveal himself to his uncle in the
ugliest light and humiliate himself before his uncle, was pleasing to
him” (p 364)

SO March

I am readmg with amazement and dismay Chardonne’s book that
I have just received 12 Present circumstances give it a rather consider-
able importance And m the same mail I receive a letter from Dneu
La Rochelle trying to persuade me that it would be good for me to
put in an appearance in Pans He is himself m Lyon temporarily,
but does not give me his address, I notice that omission just as I want
to send him this telegram

“appreciate your cordial letter and regret comma after read-
ing LAST PAGES OF CHARDONNES BOOK CLARIFYING YOUR POSITIONS COmma
HAVING TO ASK YOU REMOVE MY NAME FROM COVER AND ADVERTISEMENTS
OUR REVIEW ”

That sort of facile superiority which colors Chardonne’s book from
one end to the other comes closer to revolting than to enchanting me
Speaking of the “historical events” we are witnessing, he says “ People
consider them very obscure and in general dreadful ” The word “peo-
ple” obviously does not include Chardonne, who adds immediately
“Much later they will be explained” (those events), “they will seem
natural” (well and good) “and almost always favorable ” Favorable to
whom? To what? Little does he care, apparently, for he does not even
raise the question In that extra-sensory and suprareasonable region in
which he asphyxiates us, nothing is any longer, no longer is anything,
everything is equivalent and interchangeable and the word “favorable”
has ceased to have any but an infinite value

“The political figures brought before the Riom court,” he says on
page 102, “charged with laxity are innocent,” and here is something

12 Chromque pnvee de fan 1940 ( Personal Chronicle of the Year 1940 ) ,
by Jacques Chardonne

Journal 1941 63

that seems clear, but he takes care to add at once "like all criminals,”
with a sort of thoughtlessness or innocence, which becomes cnmmal
m the present situation

Yet I am grateful to Chardonne for having written this book, which
leaves everything m doubt except himself and the position he has
taken, in consultation (or at least m company) with A de Chateau-
bnant and Dneu La Rochelle This book provokes a reaction in me,
for as I read it I feel clearly that this position is at the opposite pole
from the one I must and will take, and it is important for me to de-
clare it at once My mmd is only too inclined by nature toward ac-
ceptance, but as soon as acceptance becomes advantageous or profit-
able, I am suspicious An instinct warns me that I cannot accept being
with them on "the right side”, I am on the other

6 April

I have just sent off to Le Figaro an article on Chardonne’s Chron -
ique, ls which would have been better if I had had complete freedom
of expression, such as it is, it barely satisfies me At least it will serve
to reassure a few friends

Would that I might have quoted the excellent passages from the
preceding Chronique , which give some measure of the depth of his fall
and make us regret it all the more! I want to transcribe some of them
here

"The words justice, right , ethics , have served as a cover for so much
laxity and deceit that eventually one finds a clear and pure ring to the
word force, with use it is likely to lose this fine ring” ( p 131 )

"It is a waste of time to define these ‘totalitarian’ regimes and to
seek to know the mmd of their leaders, whether they are conquerors or
high priests of a religion, whether they ever had a doctrine or merely
a sense of opportunity They are revolutionaries, that’s all They fo-
mented a very popular economic revolution, which cannot tolerate
that state of well-being we call civilization or any of the things that for
us make up human worth” (pp 149-50)

"The various forms of collectivism under state domination, aU the
types of tyranny triumphing just now, called Communism or dictator-
ship, are already excluded from the future Rut the way m which they
will disappear may alarm” (p 175)

"The Frenchman is a liberal as he is a Christian at heart though he
may not frequent churches much* He is instinctively a liberal even
when he thinks he is smitten with a party of the extreme right or left

ia The article, which appeared m Le Figaro on 12 April 1941 and seems
outspoken m view of the circumstances, is included in Interviews tmagmaires
(Imaginary Interviews ), of 1943

64 Journal 1941

He is so f undam ent ally liberal that he is not even aware of his original-
ity and hardly suspects how isolated the likes of him are today on a
narrow fringe of Europe” (p 236)

“Despotism with its program of human retrogression, its bestial rule
of conduct, its horrible religion, just as it rose out of the Asiatic hordes
and Mongol Germany, cannot be leconciled with the liberal spirit, its
lofty reason and respect for mankind This question is by no means
smtable for today An indisputable and urgent and perhaps limited
task is on hand for the tranquillity of our country It requires that the
liberal spirit be momentarily checked in order to survive at least m its
native countries” (pp 237-8)

Excellent remarks also on relations between authors and publishers,
pp 101, 179, 180, 183, and 184

8 April

Too often, through negligence or lazmess, I have omitted to set
down in this notebook the mark of an evolution in my thought, and
thereby my Journal betrays me, preserving a passing trace of a feeling
and no reflection of that feeling after I have modified it, often defin-
itively Thus it is that some were able to think that I did not like
Rome because I had originally said that I was bored there and then
left without mention the delightful and studious days I subsequently
lived there 14

10 April

Seeking examples for Catherine and inventing diction exercises to
teach her to distinguish and differentiate the pronunciation of our
vowels, I discover that Racine’s line from Phedre

1ST etait quun faible essai des tourments que f endure
contams in its first seven syllables six repetitions of the open e sound,
almost the same, but which it is nevertheless essential to distinguish
subtly The charm of French classic poetry is made up of the play of
such imponderables

Nice, 12 April

At that time my speech was akin to song, my gait to dance A
rhythm earned my thought along, ordered my existence I was young

14 Gide is thinking of The Journals of Andri Gtde, Vol I, p, 51, but
doubtless forgetting Vol III, p 291

Journal 1941

65

La Crotx , 15 April 16

Yesterday evening, going to the shore alone, I saw the beach cov-
ered near the water-line by the washed-up remains of an odd little
animal I had never seen before Its flat body looks like an oval disk
varying from three to five inches long, quite translucent m the center,
but with edges that darken to a most intense purplish blue Above the
oval rises like a comb a sort of transversal sail, colorless and almost
transparent, to catch the wmd And I saw that the near-by waves were
covered with hundreds or thousands of these frail skiffs, which the
breeze was slowly bringing in to run aground on the beach Observing
the nearest ones, I saw that the inner surface of each disk was covered
with delicate tentacles like those of starfish I wondered if they were
not one stage of a zoophyte, but believe rather that it was an adult
animal, the name and description of which I shall try to find m the
Brehm at Les Audides 16 I was filled with wonder and more deeply
moved than I could have been by the most beautiful landscape

17 April

“Sade and La Mettrie, the only two real atheists of the eighteenth
century/’ Jean Strohl used to say I almost thought so too, not being
able to consider as such Voltaire, d’Holbach, Grimm, Montesquieu,
and even less Rousseau As for Diderot, his article on Spinoza re-
mained confounding to me 17 Oh, to be sure, none of them believed m
miracles, in Providence, m some God accidentally bringing about his
particular wishes But it is not so easy as that to be an atheist I can
understand Hume’s saying to d’Holbach that he had never had the luck
to meet a single one, and when the Baron replied (in 1764), “This
evening you will have the pleasure of dining with seventeen of them,”
he was usmg the word rather freely, when forced into a comer, those
guests would have revealed more vague skepticism than a very definite
and very decisive negative affirmation The anecdote (Vie de Romtlly
by Diderot) is related by Buckle (Vol II, p 228), whose History of
Civilization I am reading with the keenest interest 18

15 The date “I er avriF in the Pans edition marks a hasty correction of a
misprint in the page-proof

16 Gide is referring to the Illustrated Life of Animals by the German
naturalist Alfred Edmund Brehm

17 See The Journals of Andre Gide, Vol III, pp 36, 46

18 Diderot never wrote a Life of Romilly After repeating the anecdote.

Buckle gives a footnote beginning “This was related to Romilly by Diderot
Life of Romilly, vol l, pp 131, 182 ” The story is indeed told on those

pages of The Life of Sir Samuel Romilly Written by Himself in recording a
conversation with Diderot that took place in 1781

66

Journal 1941

That Peguy is a great figure, and particularly noble and representa-
tive, goes without saying, I consider admirable his very life and many
a page of his Jeanne rfArc , as well as numerous others scattered
throughout his Cahiers 19 But those lmes from £ve which are quoted
everywhere today and over which everyone goes into raptuies belong
among the worst I have read and the worst that were ever dashed off
in any language

Honor, integrity, good faith — merely to pnde oneself on them
amounts to relinquishing them somewhat

6 May

“France France alone, ” they say Alas, I doubt if she has the
power to climb back up the fatal slope! In her youth, perhaps, but she
is too divided Our present state of decay, which our defeat so sadly
revealed, concerns me even more than the defeat itself Yes, I doubt
that, alone, we shall be capable of getting back on our feet when Eng-
land gives back to us that ‘"beloved liberty” which we shall simply
turn into license I even go so far as to think subjection to Germany
preferable for a time, with its painful humiliations, less harmful for us,
less degrading, than the discipline that Vichy offers us today There
can be no shame m being conquered by an adversary that is more
robust and prepared so long m advance for the struggle, but shame
indeed m returning to normal (or trying to) m the position to which
one has so miserably been forced back Collaboration with Germany
would strike me as acceptable, even desirable, if I were sure it were
fair But it is best, probably, not to seem to doubt the fairness of the
contracting party I have always believed and said that our two peo-
ples were much less opposites than complements, and the weakness
of the Versailles Treaty hes m not having already grasped this It is
true that at that time there was no question of Hitlerism, but this is
just why we should have taken advantage of it Instead of forestalling
Hitlensm we acted in such a way as to make it necessary for the re-
covery of Germany, which we made a point of humiliating, of mortify-
ing We can reproach Hitler with the means of recovery he is using,
feel indignant about his summary, cruel, iniquitous methods But
without them would he have achieved the amazing results that give
him mastery of the situation today? We are now at the mercy of a
power that knows no mercy And nothing seems to me more useless
than an impotent revolt

The “Crush me, or I shall never bow” of Quam 20 is not for me I

19 Most of P6guy*s writings appeared in his own periodical Cahiers de
la qumzaine

20 y “Ecrase-moi, sinan jamais je ne ploiem” is lme S80 of Leconte de
Lisles poem “Quam* m the Podmes barbares

Journal 1941 67

hold that in such cases it is better to obey without a word I should
doubtless not talk like this if I did not believe all the values that are
dear to me utterly inalienable, if I did not know force to be powerless
against them And probably the regime I prefer is the one that will
most honor them (mdeed, I am not saymg that will bestow the most
honors on them), but I hold that it would be debasing them to put
them at the service of any regime whatever I also hold that there is
no regime m which the cult of these values can fail to restore to man
his dignity, nor any cause so beautiful that it is worth mans subjugat-
ing to it his freedom of thought (and dignity is the same thing) 21

8 May

As for everything I wrote above, I should prefer that there were
danger in thinking it An opinion begins to bother me as soon as I can
find an advantage in it Judgment finds its freedom much more seri-
ously compromised when circumstances favor it than when they
thwart it, and one suspects ones impartiality much less m resistance
than m assent

10 May

If the English succeed m driving the Germans out of France, a
party will form m our country to balk at that deliverance, to discover
that the recent domination had something to be said for it, since it at
least imposed order, and to prefer it to the disorder of freedom A free-
dom for which we are not yet ready and which we do not deserve
Freedom is beautiful only because it permits the exercise of virtues
that it is first essential to acquire How much time will be left me to
suffer from this period of turbulence? Shall I live long enough to see
the dawn breaking beyond the confusion and not to die m despair?

11 May

Yet no! Despair is not at all typical of me But more than ever I
depend on the weather, the currents, the surroundings, the circum-
stances When I was young, it seemed to me that my spirit could es-
cape from the environment more easily I had not yet discovered to
what an extent each of us, whether or not we wish it or know it, be-

21 "A good policy consists not in opposing what is inevitable but in bemg
of use to it and in making use of it” (Renan, Reforme mtellectuelle et
morale, p 143 )

* a fatal circle m which common sense is called cowardice, some-
times treason 7 (p 152)

"How many questions, in the affairs of this poor human race, must be
settled without being resolved After a few years one is quite surprised that
the question has ceased to exist” (p 176) [A ]

68 Journal 1941

longs to the whole, is involved, remains, even without knowing it, de-
pendent But today it is impossible not to know it, for events have as-
sumed such an importance! One can no longer detach ones thoughts
from them One is bound up m them to the very heart, and suffering
with those who suffer Descartes’s stove has gone out One can get
warm only by exercismg Bad for pure thought! What remains pure
today? Everything compromises itself on use Thought enters the serv-
ice And how can it avoid joining up? I have ceased to count on any
but the deserters

16 May

"Why do you French always have (and nothing but) half-tones,
nuances, and reticence m matters of color?” I was not aware of this and
hardly understood Rosenberg when he said “In Russia we like fresh
and bold colors, daring tones, gay oppositions In France everything
seems monotone and dull, whether clothing, draperies, or stage sets
and those of life itself Nothing but whispers, refined subtleties, dis-
creet allusions, m contrast to them, with our violent tastes we seem to
ourselves good-humored savages ”

Shortly after that conversation there came to Pans the Russian
Ballet bringing its well-known dash and new life

6 June

“Unselfconsciousness”, yes, this is indeed the proper word, and
Montherlant uses it wonderfully He excels in passing off as a virtue
(and what is more, as a rare virtue) and “freedom of mind” what, I
fear, is but an egotistic lack of interest m public affairs He indul-
gently quotes a remark by Gourmont and it can be felt that the war
“does not bother” him either Many people are well enough off not to
have to suffer much from the restrictions, and they look upon the pres-
ent situation as better than merely tolerable They would be hypo-
critical not to admit this simply and to assume a contrite appearance,
for the poverty of others touches them but little and sympathy does
not bother them, but there is nothing to boast about m that The re-
marks of the “rat who has withdrawn from society,” whether he is an
artist or a philosopher, always smack somewhat of his cheese

14 June

Le Figaro has opened a column entitled “Anti-Littr6,” in which to
point out the grammatical mistakes that can be found even m the best
writers It is enough to keep one from wilting Some of these mistakes
are trumped-up quarrels, such as the de suite that already annoyed
Baudelaire when George Sand confused it with tout de suite Is there
really any reason for getting alarmed about that? On the other hand

Journal 1941 69

(yes, I am well aware that the improper use of par contre is also
pomted out), I do not recall ever having seen criticized the use, which
is beginning to come in, of autrement followed by plus, which strikes
me as ", autrement plus 9 deplorable I read, for example, in the Journal
de Gendve for IS June over the signature of Captain Eddy Bauer "It
would have been, it seems, autrement plus utile ” Autrement was
enough, or else bien plus utile

1 like bemg a “victim” of the Legion I do not like the fact that it
should be for so small a reason 22

I was kept from speaking not so much by the threatening letter of
M de Tissot as by the insignificance of my lecture Brave that threat
in order to say so little! Not worth it

At first I congratulated myself on the hundred and eighty (soon
after there were two hunched and forty) members of the Legion who
handed in their insignia “de suite ’ by way of protest

But of that little adventure nothing remains, as far as “public opin-
ion” goes, but this that they prevented me from speaking and that I
was silent “recognizing that I was wrong and giving in to their rea-
sons,” as the papeis said Any article that might have clarified the
matter would have been stopped by censorship

12 June

The shortest night of the year

The last four days have been more beautiful than one can say, more
beautiful than I could endure A sort of call to happiness m which all
nature conspired m a miraculous swoon, reaching a summit of love and
joy m which the human bemg has nothing further to wish for but
death On such a night one would like to kiss the flowers, caress the
tree trunks, embrace any young and ardent body whatever, or prowl
in search of it till dawn Going off to bed alone, as I have nevertheless
to decide to do, seems impious

26 June

After several bad nights I made up my mind last night to take
gardenal Dreamed even more than I slept

I dreamed, once more, that I was losmg my wife I do not mean
that she was dying, but indeed that I was losmg her as one loses an

22 On 21 May 1941 Gide was to give a lecture m Nice on the poet
Henri Michaux, but this was made impossible by the newly formed SOL or
fascist-mspired Legion in the service of the Vichy government The lecture
was published m July by Gallimard under the title D&cwvrons Henn
Michaux ( Let Us Discover Henri Michaux)

yo Journal 1941

object and I was seeking her everywhere, filled with an increasing
anxiety, especially at the thought of the anxiety she must have felt at
being lost We had arrived, I don’t know why or how, at Loeche-les-
Bains And to begin with she had had a most painful impression of the
appearance of the place The baths were sordid each tub, a sort of
hole in which one had to stand up There were about a dozen like that
and in so little space that, up against one another, they formed a sort
of honeycomb The hotel was as miserable as possible, and m fact
there was no inn at all, m the true sense of the word, but simply a
group of old stone houses, and we did not know m which of them we
should be able to find lodging They were like the houses m the
Cevennes, and this made me say to my wife (she was still with me)
“This reminds me of Lamalou,” m as playful a tone as possible, though
there was no connection But I felt her anxiety and wanted to reassure
her Not far away, however, was a sort of casino, which we entered
Many people were eating their meal at small tables In vain we looked
for an unoccupied one, wandering from room to room, for there were
many m a row And going off ahead, I said “Wait for me here I am
gomg to see if I can find one farther on * And, natuially, my wife was
not there when I returned a little later to the room where I had left
her Moreover, I did not recognize that room at all Hence I set out
to look for my wife, ever more anxious Perhaps she had gone out (the
atmosphere m the rooms was stifling) I began to scour the country-
side and even hired a carriage, which I soon left after it had taken me
to a sort of “natural bridge/’ the marvel of the region, which I recog-
nized from having seen on postcards Famous spot, surrounded by
steep rocks, and I had just time to think “She will never be able to
endure this country ” Then I went back mto the casino There was a
crowd A great many people, particularly young servant-girls m Swiss
or Tyrolean costumes and wearing aprons, all of them knew that I was
looking for my wife Whereupon one of them, approaching me, told
me that she knew where to find her and was ready to tell me “But
first one would like to know what you think of Russia?” As she asked
me this question, she winked at two strapping fellows whom I felt,
rather than saw, beside me I grasped that they were ready to seize me
if my reply was not satisfactory My only concern was to say exactly
the right thing, and consequently I made a great effort to see what
might be suitable I thought “Come, come, we are m Switzerland
is Switzerland Tor’ or ‘against’ just now?” not knowing in what direc-
tion the country inclined Fortunately I recalled (this was a sudden
invention of my dream) the ship captain with his telescope trained on
the open sea who was asked “What are you trying to see?” and who
replied, shrugging his shoulders as if it were self-evident “How can
you ask?” This device seemed to me excellent and I adopted it “How

Journal 1941 71

can you ask?” I exclaimed spiritedly, even adding for greater assur-
ance “And in Switzerland?' The young servant, easily reassured, at
once retorted, laughing “That is the best reply I have ever got ” And
thereupon I woke up

1 July

Of all Moliere's plays, it is decidedly Le Malade imaginaire that I
prefer It is the one that strikes me as the most novel, the boldest, the
most beautiful — and by far If that play were a painting, how people
would wax enthusiastic over its substance When Moliere writes in
verse, he succeeds by dmt of expedients, he knows many a little de-
vice to satisfy the requirements of measure and rhyme But, despite his
great dexterity, the alexandrine rather distorts his tone of voice That
tone is utterly natural in Le Malade (and m Le Bourgeois Gentil -
homme) I know no more beautiful prose It does not obey any definite
law, but each sentence is such that not a single word could be changed
without spoiling it It constantly achieves a wonderful plenitude, mus-
cular like Puget's athletes or Michelangelo's slaves and as if swelling,
without bombast, with a sort of lyricism made up of life, good humor,
and health I never tire of rereading it and shall not cease praising it

2 July

I reread, immediately after, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme However
fine and wise certain scenes may be, an intentional drawmg-out of the
dialogues allows me, by comparison, to admire even more the tight
texture of Le Malade imaginaire, so solid, so thick, so sturdy And what
solemnity, what a “schaudern” each scene receives from the secret con-
tact with death It is with death that everything sports, it is made a
sport of, it is made to enter the dance, it is invited thrice, whether by
little Lornson or by Argan himself with his wife and later with his
daughter, death is felt prowling about, it is seen reconnoitermg, it is
braved and flouted, even to the death of Moli&re himself, which comes
at the end to round out atrociously this tragic farce And all that, in
the bourgeois key, achieves a grandeur that the theater has never sur-
passed

4 July

Considerable guile has been marshaled on the subject of the mute e
and of alliteration In general I don't like people who think they are
smart, even if they are poets, who try to keep the profane at a distance
As for the moats with which they surround themselves, I daim to ford
them

The position of the mute e in the line of poetry is, you say, of prime

72 Journal 1941

importance, likewise you have noticed that the repetition of the same
sound within a line, as by echo, can delight you This is true, but the
charm is broken if one feels the intention and the artifice as in
De la bombarde grave a la morne cromorne 2Z
A typical verse of the early symbolist period, or even m this over-
exquisite lme by Mallarme

De blancs sanglots ghssant sur Tazur des corolles , 24
It is rather artificial and I much prefer certain preceding or subsequent
lines from the same poem of his early period

C*etait le jour bSm de ton premier baiser,
for example, or

La fie!

Qui jadis sur mes grands sommeils d enfant gate,
in which there is no alliteration at all

That sort of syncopation (to use a musical term) provoked by the
mute e would not have so surpnsmg an effect if it did not strike us as
natural and apparently unintentional

I propose this reform m which I see no disadvantage Without com-
pletely suppressing dictation, which can first accustom children to re-
late writing to sound, proofreading might occasionally be substituted
for it with a view to teaching them spelling The teachers task would
be vastly simplified and the child would take great interest m this It
would not be difficult to draw up the text of a galley involving a cer-
tain number of mistakes that the teacher would know A copy would
be given to each pupil There would be — let us say twelve misprints to
correct Gradmg would be easy and the emulation more definite, the
most deserving pupil bemg the one who had corrected all twelve This
method would have the further advantage of teaching the pupils the
technique of proofreading, which might later on be a help to some of

23 Gide is doubtless quoting from memory an early sonnet by Andr6
Fontamas in which occur the lin es

Feureux un atraxn rouge etouffe en la viorne
Le sombre sanglot d 3 ombre d’ou Wnique Scoute
M outer un deuil dangoisse au roc noir de la route
D'une bombarde grave ou fun morne cromorne

Mais du grave cromorne & la bombarde morne
II ouragan naura bu que le sang de mon doute,

Es-tu debout , la Mort que le doigt a la vo&te
Suscite pour ma peur un vol de Wmcorne?

The sonnet is number iv in Les Estuaires d* ombre (1895)

24 From the short poem Apparition > which, though first published m
1883, had been composed some twenty years earlier*

Journal 1941 73

them, but, above all, it would put them on their guard agamst the au-
thority of the printed word, which too often inspires awe

5 July

Proud of being French Alas, for months, for years now,
France has hardly given us any reasons to be proud At moments
France seems so little like herself that it is enough to make one wonder
if one had not ongmally been wrong about her She seems to have
deliberately set out to disown her good qualities, her noblest and rar-
est virtues, one after another, or to cast them off like unutilizable lux-
ury articles or possessions that, in time of need, are too costly to main-
tain The France of today 25 has ceased to be France Where are those
qualities, those virtues, which made me love my country? If the figure
she cuts m the world today is her true countenance, I disown her

Alas, may one not think that those who best represented our France
are just those who died in the other war? By that sacrifice of the best
we are today most atrociously impoverished If those valiant men of
yesterday were alive, they would not allow France to be driven back,
trampled underfoot, and depreciated, and there would be less talk of
honor , since it would not have been lost

7 July

Midsummer I like being too hot A sort of heavy splendor spreads
over the plain, and the mountains roundabout seem like floating blocks
of azure How beautiful the earth would be none the less* Is not
man the artisan of almost all his misfortunes?

Suddenly and frequently fatigued as if I had just risen from a sick-
bed Oh, how readily I feel at the end of my strength! And this too
keeps me from undertaking anything doubt of being able to realize
a project I no longer achieve anything but rough drafts

9 July

That letter from Malaquais, dated 18 June, still lies on my table If
I knew where to write him, I should have done so long ago I can hear
him accuse me, accuse Pierre we are forsaking him, we are tired of
him, besides, he had foreseen this long ago, and his bitterness does not
stop with us, but overflows onto the whole human race He finds
all sorts of reasons for our silence except the real one that he neg-
lected to give his address

25 I am speaking, of course, of the France of Vichy [A ]

74

Journal 1941

14 July

I was obliged to recognize my error and that it was Christian
virtues I hoped to find m Communism

15 July

I finally make up my mind to read La Thebaide 26 It is obviously
not a good play, yet it contains some very fine scenes and many lines
already worthy of Racine, particularly m the dialogue between Creon
and fiteocle m Act IV

I want his hate m order that I may hate him 27
I should have noted them all
Creon’s declaration is very curious, if not very good
I am not moved by remorse this time ,

My heart no longer fears committing crime
Initial misdeeds always cost most dear.

But second crimes do leave the conscience clear 2S
What would Racine have been as an Englishman m the time of
Elizabeth? One cannot imagine Racme any less enamored of perfec-
tion, but rather of a different perfection To what a degree the perfec-
tion he desires and achieves was dictated to him, marked out for him,
by his associates and his epoch! It could not be more so But his knowl-
edge of the human heart, his cruel sensibility, his formal beauty, his no-
bility — all belong properly to him What works would he not have pro-
duced if his genius had been able to have free rem and recognize no
other laws but self-imposed ones? Useless question And it is possible to
wonder just as well and just as uselessly what would Shakespeare
have been under constraint? It is better to think that constraint suited
Racine’s genius whereas Shakespeare’s would not have gamed m per-
fection what it would have lost in ease

17 July

I receive four books by Valery the poems of Father Cyprien, a
Descartes , Milange, and Tel Quel 20

26 The Thebaiad (1664) was Jean Racine’s first tragedy

27 Je veux quit me diteste afin de le hair

28 Le remords n*est pas ce qui me touche ,

Et \e riax plus un cceur que le crime effarouche
Torn les premiers forfaits content quelques efforts.

Mats, Attale , on commet les seconds sans remords

29 Valery prefaced the poems of the unknown Father Cyprien de la Na-
tivity de la Vierge (1605-80) The Descartes is doubtless the selections from
the philosopher chosen and prefaced by Valery Pages immortelles de Des-
cartes, chomes et exphquees par Paul Valery (1941) Melange de prose et
de poem (Mixture of Prose and Poetry) of 1939 and Tel Quel (As Is) of
1941 are collections of Valery’s poetic and aphoristic writings

Journal 1941 75

In reading Valery one acquires that wisdom which consists m feel-
ing a bit more stupid than before

“Lasst ihn machen, er 1 st dock em dummer Kerl” 30 remark made by
Blucher about Napoleon, quoted by Treitschke m his History of Ger-
many, Vol I, p 505, and given me by Vienot

I greatly enjoy that use of the word divaguer that I encounter m
Simenon ( Pietr le Letton , p 104) “11 divaguait dans les coulisses de
Thdtel ” 31

18 July

Racine’s Alexandre 32 would, I believe, be impossible to stage to-
day What allusions people would see m Porus’ resistance and m the
acquiescence of Taxile, who nevertheless had protested at the begin-
ning of the play that he would not yield

Could 1 betray those chiefs
Now banded together to liberate our fiefs ?

Is there among them even one commander

Who is crushed and disarmed by the name Alexander

And, granting him world mastery gained ,

Begs in advance to be a slave enchained?

Far from being frightened to see him so renowned.

They will attack him though with victory crowned.

And you wish, sister, to see me, as if afraid.

On the point of fighting him, now beg his aid? 33
Moreover, I don’t know why I am quoting these few lmes espe-
cially, the opening scene of the tragedy, that dialogue between Taxile
and his sister Cleofile, would deserve transcribing almost in its en-

30 "Let him go ahead, he is but a stupid fellow, after all ”

31 "He was divagating behind the scenes m the hotel ”

32 In Racme’s second play, Alexander the Great (1665), the Indian King
Porus fights to preserve his lands from the conqueror while King Taxile
yields to Alexander without battle

88 Trahirais-'je ces princes

Que rassemble le som d’affranchir nos provinces?

En voijez-vous un seul qut, sans nen entreprendre,

Se laisse terrasser au seul nom d Alexandre,

Et, le croyant dejd maitre de Tumvers,

Aide, esclave empress 6, hit demander des fers?

Loin de s'epouvanter a Taspect de sa glotre,
lls Tattaqueront mime au sem de la mctovre,

Et vous voulez, ma sceur, que Taxile aujourdhm
Tout pret a le combattre implore son appui?

y6 Journal 1941

tirety, at least all the beginning And, m the following scene, this reply
of Poms

But what price do you think Alexander demands
For the shameful peace betraying us to his hands?

Inquire , my lord, of a hundred different races
Whom that deceitful peace m chains disgraces
Be not misled his kindness serves his ends
By ever enslaving those he calls his friends
Uselessly might one plan half -fealty to bestow
One must be his slave or else his bitter foe 34
And the following lines I am even struck here by the need Taxile
feels to speak of honor, m order to cover up, even 111 his own eyes, his
cowardice *

Like you , my lord , I too hear honors voice ,

But to save my empire is my proper choice 35

19 July

Indeed, those Cahiers of Montesquieu deserved to be brought to our
attention 86 The first pages above all, that self-portrait with which the
publication opens, are masterful, and I know but few that are more ex-
alting m all our literature But we already knew them, and it required
all Grasset’s skill, so consummate m the art of publicity, to present
them as new, as 4 eagerly awaited for two centuries ” I am especially
delighted by their calm and radiant optimism, which moves me more
than the most entrancing lamentations Doubtless Montesquieu, greatly
aided by circumstances, did not have to go to great effort to achieve
that state of joy The difficult thing was rather to maintain it It re-
quired an acquiescence, an agreement of his whole being, a sort of
physiological permission, but even with perfect health, that state of
superior joy is most rare and implies an equilibrium of all the faculties

34 Mats encore d quel pnx croyez-vous qu Alexandre
Mette Tmdtgne paix dont il veut nous surprendre?

Demandez-le , Seigneur , a cent peuples divers
Que cette paix trompeuse a yetes dans les fers
Non , ne nous flattons point sa douceur nous outrage ,

Toufours son amitiS traine un long esclavage
En vain on pretendrait ri obiter qud demi
St Ton nest son esclave on est son ennemi
83 Tecoute comme vous ce que Thonneur m inspire.

Seigneur , mats il m engage d sauver mon empire
80 In 1941 the publisher Bernard Grasset edited under the title of
Cahiers ( 1716-1755 ) a selection from the three manuscript volumes of
Pensees, the contents of which had already been published in 1899-1901 an
an edition by Baron Gaston de Montesquieu, R, Celeste, H Barckhausen,
and R Dezeimens*

Journal 1941 77

rarely attained, and even more rarely without self-indulgence or ego-
tistic limitation

One must confess that the rest of the book is rather disappointing
Often this is but the rejects and left-overs from his principal books,
and I doubt if, left to himself, he would have put them mto the hands
of the public Yet certain reflections on history still strike me as among
the best

Of all of these, there is one that we may reread and meditate upon
today with very great satisfaction

"One of the things to be noted in France is the great ease with
which she has always recovered from her losses, from her epidemics,
from her decreases m population, and with what resourcefulness she
has always borne or even overcome the inherent vices of her different
governments Perhaps she owes the cause of this to that very diversity
which has kept any evil from becoming sufficiently rooted to deprive
her completely of the fruit of her natural advantages” (p 143)

There is mdeed great comfort m thinking that, but not without a
shadow of fear that one may come to rely upon it

The whole thing in an ever virile style, not so much alert as assured,
often rather similar to that of the Cardinal de Retz, and I do not be-
lieve there is any I prefer to it, tighter, more muscular than Stendhal’s,
beside it all Chateaubnands seem adipose, sticky, and overdressed
Yes, sentences like this might be by Retz "That devotion sufficed to
divest him of the little genius Nature had given him ” He is speaking
of Louis XIV, but of how many others this could be said*

And, speaking of Mme de Maintenon "It is true that the King had
a greater soul than hers, so that she was constantly abasing the King’s,”
could be said of how many women!

Returning to this subject, he says also "Louis XIV had a soul
greater than his mind Mme de Maintenon constantly abased that soul
to bring it to her level ” But perhaps it would be fairer to say that
Louis XIV descended to her level "in his last attachment, pitiably
weak”

Moreover, the same distmction could be made here as for Tartuffe,
between true and false religion, for we read farther on “He loved fame
and religion and was prevented all his life from knowing either one "
And in conclusion "He would have had hardly one of all these short-
comings if he had been better brought up or had had a better mind ”
But their scant love of life
Is open prejudicial to them * 7

97 Mats leur peu d amour de la tne
Lew nuit en mainte occasion,
from La Fontaine’s fable of “The English Fox” (XII, 23) f

y8 Journal 1941

La Fontaine said of the English (he Renard anglais) Compare with
Montesquieu s reflections ‘There is no nation that needs religion more
th an the English those who aie not afraid of hanging themselves must
be afraid of being damned,” and again “The English kill themselves
without any other reason than their sorrow,” or “The English kill them-
selves at the slightest setback ” Curious to know if this is still true
today? And even m La Fontaine's time, and again m Montesquieu s,
how many examples would have proved their statements?

It is true that, personally, I have but very little to suffer from the
present condition (this is partly because my life, my reason for living,
takes lefuge in a domain that setbacks cannot touch), and I even have
to make a slight effort to imagine the effects of our disaster But I
cannot open a newspaper without painfully seemg m it the moral and
spiritual decadence, at once cause and effect of our defeat

I no longer write an affirmative sentence without being tempted to
add “perhaps”

X talks of himself with great modesty, but constantly

I also read m Montesquieu

“Wonderful maxim, not to talk of things any more after they are
done ”

Excellent remark to quote to those who ask me for explanations of
my books

20 July

A new issue of Poesie 41 brings me some surprising poems by
Aragon 38 This is the best I have read in poetry for some time and the
most authentically new I feel the need of writing this here, for I had
not at all enjoyed his most recent books and feared he might hence-
forth be almost lost to us

26 July

I come away delighted from Catherine' s dancing class, which I
have just attended No doubt but that daily training of this type gives
the body that undergoes it slimness, grace, and decision Spiritualiza-
tion of desire But it is desire none the less Desire for something or
other And if the body is ugly, nothing can be done about it

38 Four poems entitled “Las Nuits” ( ‘Nights”) appeared first in the
fourth issue of PoSsie 41 (May-June 1941), a small and excellent poetry re-
view published by Pierre Seghers at Villeneuve-les- Avignon m the Card
These poems, entitled individually “May Night,” “Dunkerque Night/"
“Night of Exile,” and “Night in the Deep South,” were reprinted in Les
Yeux cTElsa (Elsas Eyes) the following year

Journal 1941 79

Were I a ballet-master, I should go and recruit on the beach some
of those little Italians (perhaps French boys) with tanned bodies
whom I was watchmg yesterday on the beach and whose elegant and
rhythmical way of swimming I was admiring Trained m dancing, they
would seem so provocative that, out of regard for public morals, no
one would dare to “produce” them

29 July

The last part of life Rather listless last act, recalls of the past,
repetitions One would like some unexpected rebound and one doesn’t
know what to think up

The first of the tales in Steinbeck's Long Valley , remarkable for its
complete adroitness, seems like a short story by Chekhov, one of the
best by Chekhov

La Crow-Vabner , 2 August

I left at Cabris the other notebook, almost filled up, which I was too
much afraid of losing Not that the pages I wrote m it seem to me in-
dispensable, but, however ordinary they may be, they represent the
only harvest of these last months I can measure the depth of my orig-
inal dejection by the efforts I had to put forth in order to pull myself
together

There is much talk, m the newspapers, of the recovery of France
This notebook relates but a personal recovery, which does not always
follow the direction proposed by Vichy’s commands But the young,
to whom those directives are addressed, naturally did not experience
the spiritual upset of their elders, and yet it is not good that there
should be a break between them and us There is no culture but in a
continuation, and I deem to be disastrous certain repudiations of our
past I have gardened too much myself not to be aware of the nsk,
when pr unin g, of amputating branches still full of sap, and I fear the
impoverishment following upon too summary a simplification

8 August

I wrote all the ridiculous preceding page in order to try to prime
this notebook But it didn’t work I no longer feel so unhappy to spend
days and days without writing

Read the short stones of Steinbeck’s Long Valley , some of them
with the greatest of pleasure, which I am now rereading aloud to the
Little Lady and Elisabeth (“The Red Pony” and “The Flight ”)

Aloud (to Catherine too) Bajazet and, now, Mithndate Z9

39 Bajazet (1672) and Mvthndates (1673) are both tragedies by Racine

8o

Journal 1941

Between times I am rereading Duvemois’s Edgar With amaze-
ment Can this really be the book that charmed me some fifteen yeais
ago? And on my approval of which Grasset built up his publicity for
Les Sceurs Hortensias ? 40 1 note that I had retained no memory of

it Enough to make me doubt ever havmg read it or that, perhaps, the
other edition contained a totally different version, certain chapters in
dialogue form are really delightfully turned out, but how profane such
a literature seems to me, and of so little weight! After which one hears
ring out the dreadful Mene , Mem , Tekel, Upharsm of the Scriptures 41

9 August

I had never before seen lizards eggs Six were brought me Rather
like the snake’s eggs I used to dig up as a child m the old sawdust by
the Val Richer sawmill Big enough so that I thought they must be
those very large green lizards which used to amaze me, and which, I
am told, are rather common m this region They were ready to hatch
and from one of them that we broke open there emeiged a small fully
formed lizard, but still having its unresorbed nutritive sac on its side
It wiggled for a few mmutes We buried the other five m a pot full of
dirt, and examining the pot four days later, we noticed that nothing
remained of three of them but empty shells The little ones, having
hatched, had got away I hastened the hatching of one of the two re-
maining eggs, cutting the soft shell with a razor blade The little lizard
came out slowly then, having gauged the weather, trotted off with
astonishing agility, with as complete assurance m his movements as
an adult and as if m no wise surprised by the sudden discovery of the
outer world

12 August

When I recall the role of Pauline, 42 it seems to me that I know no
finer one But I am rereading Polyeucte with a discomfort that at times
becomes unbearable Protest wins out over admiration, beginning with
the initial situation of the play, I cannot play the game, for it is too ar-
bitrary a constraint What! Pauline would have accepted from her
father a husband she “hated”! What is this duty which is indistinguish-
able from idiotic obedience? Corneille, moreover, was so well aware
of this that he did all he could to attenuate the absurdity of that filial
submission very real virtue of Polyeucte, supposed death of S6vbre

40 Duvemois’s Edgar was first published m 1919, and his Uortensia
Sisters m 1931 For the story of how the pubhsher Grasset exploited Gide’s
enthusiasm, see The Journals of Andre Gide > Vol III, pp 152-3

41 Daniel v

42 The heroine of Corneille’s tragedy Polyeucte

Journal 1941 81

None the less, what gives preference to Polyeucte is that this
choice seems more advantageous

But what good is merit where fortune is lacking?

. Too rarely over so great an impediment
Does a virtuous suitor win a fathers consent 43
And it is to this that his daughter submits f The dialogue between
Severe and Paulme upon meeting agam is, to be sure, most nobly beau-
tiful, almost succeeding m bemg completely natural and as little
strained as possible But one’s discomfort returns immediately after-
ward when Polyeucte declares to Nearque his untimely ardor as a
neophyte And he has the nerve to ask Paulme to go with him to the
temple though he is plotting against the gods she venerates his brutal
and stupid plan* His faith may lead him to martyrdom, but did not
call for the scandal of upsetting the pagan ceremony with a schoolboy’s
scoffing or even less by noisy destruction of the idols Polyeucte does
all that is lequired here to make himself hateful, and one can approve
him only m the name of a religion of which he brings out here only the
awkwaid side He behaves as a revolutionary rather than as a Chris-
tian, and one can be a very good Christian without at all approving his
deed he rises up against Decie much more than against Jupiter,
against that

Tiger athirst for blood , Deems the pitiless 44
The effort Corneille puts forth in order to lift us to this sublime
level stretches his style, and his verse shows the result most unfortu-
nately, but, the level once attained, his style agam assumes a won-
derful amplitude, and the dialogue between Polyeucte and Pauline
(Act IV, scene m) is of the loftiest beauty, a worthy match for that
other, utterly human one between Paulme and Severe m Act II

IS August

After Bajazet, reread aloud Mithndate with the greatest success
with my little audience (Mme Theo, Elisabeth, and Catherine) There
is no play by Racine that better answers the forced accusations of Jean
Schlumberger, it seems to me, and that I should be more eager to see
added to the requirements of our schools I should make the children
learn the whole of Mithridate’s long speech to his sons and their two
replies, rich (even aside from their beauty) with an inexhaustible
moral lesson

43 Mats que sert le merite oil manque la fortune ?

Trap invincible obstacle , et dont trop rarement
Tnomphe aupres dun pere un vertueux amant
44 Tigre altere de sang. Dime impUoyable

82

Journal 1941

Is any trace found in this notebook (I mean m the preceding one)
of the two long readings that held my attention for months at Cabns
the Stmphctus Simphcissmus of Gnmmelshausen and Buckle’s History
of Civilization ? Both of them were of great profit to me, the latter
an object of infinite meditations, m which I should have indulged
earlier in order to strengthen convictions that remained vague for too
long

16 August

Reread some comedies of Musset Le Chandelier 45 is still my favor-
ite But, Lord, what a nuisance love can be! — m others

Reread aloud II ne faut 'jurer de nen 46 A most exquisite play and
almost from start to finish (this "almost” because of some thirty lines
of romantic-love lavings m the dialogue of the night rendezvous which
can easily be cut in the stagmg, together with a few inappropriate "my
dears”)

Cap d’Ail , 21 August

I am amazed to read

"Must be read with the most extreme care” m the preface to
Renans Marc Aurele, which I find at Malrauxs and open at landom
Malraux advises me (I should say enjoins me) to read
Gautier Mceurs et coutumes des musulmans
Pirenne Histoire de F Europe

XX La Legende dor6e des missions (Grasset, about 1930) 47

22 August

Long succession of days during which the soul is willing to live m
distraction and makes no further effort to get closer to God

23 August

I ought to confess honestly that I have ceased to know just what
that image hides In this case it is less a matter of a situation than of a
spiritual state One cannot get closer to what is everywhere It is
much rather a question of a transparency of the soul that allows us to
feel Him The majority of men do not know that state of communion ,
but it brings the soul, the entire being, such a delightful felicity that

45 The Substitute Lover

46 One Cannot Be Sure of Anything, a comedy by Musset

47 Manners and Customs of the Moslems, by Emile-F^lix Gautier
(1931), History of Europe from the Invasion to the Sixteenth Century, by
Henri Pirenne (1936), and The Golden Legend of the Missions, whose au-
thor it has not been possible to identify

Journal 1941 83

the soul is inconsolable after once having known it and then allowed
it to slip away

This is partly what makes me, without believing in any definite
God, really enjoy only the company of pious souls

Quietism** No, but constantly in a state of effort and stretched to-
ward something indefinable and adorable, toward a higher condition
m which the individual is lost and absorbed — to which I see no other
name to give but the very name of God

28 August

At Grasse smce yesterday Late on the day of my arrival, went to
see Bunin Rather disappointing visit, for, despite cordial efforts on
both sides, real contact was not established One esteems too little
what the other admires His cult for Tolstoy embarrasses me as much
as his scorn for Dostoyevsky, for Shchedrin, for Sologub Decidedly we
do not have the same saints, the same gods But durmg the entire con-
versation he was charming His handsome face, though very wrinkled,
is still noble, and his eyes are full of enthusiasm He was wearing
dark-red pajamas, open on his chest and affording a glimpse of a fine
gold chain on which, I supposed, must have hung a holy medal He
told me that he has just finished a new book, but does not know where
or how to get it published I was somewhat embarrassed to know noth-
ing of his work but The Gentleman from San Francisco and The Vil-
lage, a youthful work that, he told me, represents him but little and
poorly and which I was quite wrong to like gieatly He almost disowns
it I do not know what he knows of my work, nor was I able to make
out on what is based the liking he shows for me

2 September

Virtuous effort at work, similar to the effort that kept me tense for
a month at Syracuse, to result m a fiasco 48 Doubdess I shall soon tear
up the pages I was writing the last few days as I once tore up those
that formed a long chapter of Genevieve and were no good

And I prepare to tear up likewise all these “letters to Catherine”
written m the last two months, for everything that I expressed in them
on the diction of poetry I find, much better put than I had managed
to do, m Auguste Dorcham $ excellent book on VArt des vers , which
I didn't even suspect existed, but find here by chance and read with
an almost constant appioval The lines he quotes as examples, with un-
hesitating competence, are marvelously well chosen

48 See The Journals of Andre Qxde > Vol III, pp 291-6, 843

8 4

Journal 1941

10 September

Young Gerald Maurois had very kindly invited me to come and
dme with him last night at the Park Palace, where he has been staying
for the past two months We had originally planned merely a game of
chess after dinner, for he is busy all day and every day, even Sunday,
with his work as a supervisor at the factory Then, that very morning
quite timi dly and with a sort of charming awkwaidness, he had come
to ask if I would not dme with hun I had accepted without fuss, ex-
pecting a very simple meal It was charming, everything was charm-
ing, and he to begin with The meal was served m a small private
room opening on the terrace One has to hide from the public today m
order to eat crayfish and meat in abundance How well he had pre-
pared it all 1 What a mingling of reverence and trusting lack of leserve
in his conversation and manners With what restrained passion he
talks of the situation of France! No arrogance or smugness m his judg-
ments, a fervor without blindness, firmness without intransigence
Simply knowing that such youth still exists can, more than anything
else, restore my confidence in France

I am reading with lively interest Bunin s book on Tolstoy He ex-
plains him wonderfully and at the same time explains to me why I
feel so ill at ease m contact with Tolstoy What a monster! Constantly
bucking, revolting against his nature, forcing one to doubt his sincerity
at all times, being in turn everything and everybody and never more
personal than when he ceases to be himself, arrogant in renunciation,
constantly arrogant, even to the point of not being reconciled to dying
simply like everyone else But what anguish in that final stiuggle, that
of a Titan against God, against fate 1 I admire him perhaps, but I can
feel in harmony and m agreement only with the humble, the modest
For me, Tolstoy remains an impossibility Cinelh compared him with
St Francis, what an absurdity! Tolstoy contrasts with St Francis with
his whole being and entire complexity, his ostentation, and even his
effort toward a spectacular destitution, forever putting on a show for
himself, for him simplicity is but a further complication Protean, his
most complicated “creations” are never more than a simplification of
himself, he who is capable of becoming so many persons becomes for-
ever incapable of real sincerity

I am rereading Genesis for Catherine’s intention, and this after-
noon, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs To be sure, the last two
works contain useless repetitions (harmonious m the Song of Songs)
and dull parts, but also, and above all, pages of such beauty, of such
solemn grandeur, that I know nothing m any literature that is superior

Journal 1941 85

or even comparable to them If these books of the Bible were architec-
tural monuments, one would willingly make a several days’ trip to see
them, like the rums of Baalbek or the temple of Selmus But they are
within reach, and numerous are those who can enjoy only what has
cost them dear Besides, attention is turned away by the reputation of
this book for aiming at edification, and by the boredom one conse-
quently expects from it It is left to priests and ministers, good for con-
verts^ A profane person has no concern with bemg catechized Is it
not "the word of God’ ? Is it not necessary to “believe” it m order to be
interested m it? Some are convinced that the interest I take in it is but
a survival of my Protestant formation Every good Protestant, as is
known, "is born with a Bible m his hands ” The Catholic hardly reads
it at all, no, not even directly the Gospel, the catechism is enough for
him, and the prayer-book with "the Gospel for the day ”

11 September

To what a degree I miss a piano, my piano! On certain days
that need, that longmg for music, becomes a sort of almost physical
pain The other day, alone at Germaine Taillefer’s while waiting for
her, I reread the delightful Sonata in B-flat major, a marvel of grace
and emotion, then the slow Etude of Chopin m E-flat minor I noted
that it would take me probably but a half-hour to learn it by heart
again To be able to get back to the piano I should enjoy mo-
ments of complete happmess What prevents me from doing so? The
physical conditions in which I am living, but, above all, the obsess-
ing fear of bothering the neighbors, a fear that in my case increases
with age, becoming almost pathological As if the neighbors worried
about

12 September

After Temps nouveaux , Esprit is reduced to silence (I propose as
a motto for Mourner, both for his review and for the friends grouped
around him Vires acqumt tacendo ,) 49 I leave it to others to be aston-

49 “He gams strength by keeping silent,” inspired by Virgil’s Vires
acqumt eundo (ASneid, IV, 175) Temps nouveaux a four-page literary
weekly of Catholic inspiration edited at Lyon by Stanislas Fumet, suc-
ceeded to the prewar, Parisian Temps present, edited by the same In July
1941 it published contributions by Claudel, Maunac, Fumet, and others,
but was suspended by the Vichy government at the end of the month Esprit,
a Catholic literary and political monthly edited by Emmanuel Mourner, had
likewise moved to the “free zone” in 1940 and was forbidden by Vichy m
August 1941 Both periodicals were revived in Paris after the liberation, the
former as Temps prSsent agam in August 1944 and Esprit m December
1944

86 Journal 1941

ished I am so little inclined, intellectually, toward insubordination,
toward refractoriness that I should almost say This is proper To
begin with, we need order and discipline just as a seriously wounded
man needs rest m order to get well But from the great operation
we were forced to undergo I greatly fear that we shall soon come to
with our limbs out of place and our neckless heads directly on our
shoulders

14 September

The “par contre" which is overused today substitutes abruptly and
inelegantly for the “en recompense 9 of the seventeenth century

"If his hand is not so quick to bestow blessings en recompense
he possesses far more letters and solidity,” Boileau writes exquisitely to
Racine

The opposition is then accompanied with a sort of compensation,
this is indeed the latent sense of the word “recompense 99 and it is
really possible to reward only what has cost some trouble

15 September

It is more than difficult for me to believe that the life of the soul
can be prolonged beyond the death of the body But even if I could
manage to do so (moreover, I do not go to any great effort m this
direction), it is utterly impossible for me to imagine that very hypo-
thetical afterlife otherwise than as the continuation of a trajectory, and
this would suffice to free me from worry, if by chance I had any

One cannot imagine a more beautiful view than the one I enjoy,
at any hour of the day, from the window of my room m the Giand
Hotel The town of Grasse opposite me dominated by the cathedral,
whose tower breaks the line of the distant mountains, the harmonious
disorder of the houses forming a series of terraces on the slope down
to the deep ravine separating me from the town While I am writing
these lines the sun is finishing its course and, before disappearing be-
hind the heights of Cabas, is pouring an ineffable golden light over
the walls, the roofs, the whole town A veil of ram has come to hide
the mountainous background of the picture so that the cathedral
tower, bathed in the last rays, now stands out against a bare sky, so
it seems, on the left, another, smaller tower The dinner hour struck
some time ago and yet I cannot leave this sight

Begin my life over again? I should try at least to put a bit
more adventure into it

Journal 1941

s 7

16 September

Children of the proletariat say “Donne-moi-le” in obedience to an
instinctive logic According to the accepted rule, they should say
“Donne-le-moi ” But do we not say, as m La Paristenne “Donnez-moi
cette lettre ”? 50 Perhaps the first case (“Donne-le-moi”) involves but a
repugnance for putting the interrogative accent on the "mute” syllable
It seems to me, moreover, that the same is true m English Departures
from the rules, when they cease to be isolated cases and become popu-
lar, are most interesting to observe

19 September

I doubt if the butterfly after having laid her eggs still gets much
enjoyment out of life It flutters hither and thither at the mercy of the
perfumes and the breeze Probably, before laying, it could think (in
so far as a butterfly thinks ) Ah, how free and light I shall feel once
I am delivered of this weight, free of all obligation and all duty
The soul with no further aim, utterly a prey to leisure, is bored

20 September

Aldous Huxley ( Beyond the Mexique Bay) notes m Mayan art the
absence of feminine forms and then immediately concludes that there
is an absense of sensuality m that art That may be, but the one does
not necessarily involve the other, and I have seen m Etruscan tombs
paintings of obvious sensuality and even lewdness from which the
fe minin e element was excluded But this is a quite frequent induction
and I am merely surprised that so alert a mind as Aldous Huxley s
should have indulged m it He speaks of a torso of a male divinity,
"a marvel of grace and delicacy,” worthy, he says, of a place in the
British Museum, that torso, he adds, in no wise recalls the ambiguous
effeminacy so frequent m Indian sculpture, hence But, of course,
the Ignudt of the Sistme Chapel do not either* Oh, how easy it is for
the uramst to appear fiigid or chaste in the eyes of the heterosexual*

25 September

I have just reread — or, more exactly, read attentively for the first
time — La Fanfarlo 51 Surprised by the many significant passages in it,
so revelatory that Baudelaire did not need to sign them They also ex-
plain the dedication of the Fleurs du mat to Gautier

What a wonderful effort literature made at that time to become artl

50 In the first scene of Henry Becque’s comedy The Woman of Pans
(1885), Lafon says to Clottlde "Give me that letter ” When both objects
are pronouns the order is "Give it me * rather than the vulgar Give me it

61 An early story by Baudelaire

88 Journal 1941

Why did it have to think it could achieve that only by opposing art to
what is natural?

Restrictions*

Obviously, I have never been healthier None the less, there
is hardly a meal at the end of which I would not be willing to eat a
large beefsteak

27 September

At times everything suddenly amazes you and seems strange One
doubts of one’s own reality and of what one sees This evening, after
a game of chess with Gerald Maurois, I left the Park Palace of Grasse
to return to the Grand Hotel The half -moon was floating m a cloudless
sky Not a sound, not a breath of air, disturbed the night’s super-
natural calm And suddenly the beauty of the sky, the motionless
serenity of sleeping nature, my very self and the little shadow I cast
on the ground, all seemed to melt into a vast unanswered interrogation
that seized me with anguish and desolation Oh, I might as well have
written with adoration and love* For no real melancholy accompanied
that anguish, and the desolation came from not knowing to whom to
address my bewildered gratitude

29 September

After a month of radiant days, this morning a fine rain is falling
from a uniformly overcast sky Opposite me, Grasse is bathed m a sort
of translucent syrup in which the green of the near-by palms, the ocher
of the distant walls, the pink of the roofs blend in such subtle shades
that I wonder if this landscape does not seem to me more delightful
thus than m "fine weather ”

SO September

I understand, because I share it, the tendency of the aged toward
avarice and shall not forgive myself the costly comfort of the very good
H6tel Adriatic, where I nevertheless decided to stay, unless I succeed
in working while here In my youth, urged on by a not very exacting
demon, I used to work under any circumstances whatever, anywhere
whatever Today that demon voices certain demands In order to stay
at my writing-table I must like the room But I have seen too many
poverty-stricken people of late not to be constantly aware that the
amount of comfort I allow myself would be luxury to them, not to
wonder constantly if the work this comfort will allow me justifies such
an outlay

Journal 1941

89

5 October

And so many afflictions one cannot alleviate* One’s heart cannot re-
sign itself to that without hardening That alone, that too hurls us into
barbarity

7 October

My large room at the Adriatic is pleasant I enjoy being m it I work
in it, and this makes me accept the fact that it costs rather dear I
prefer the nudity of its walls to the reproduction of all the master-
pieces m the world, and I am not distracted either by the gloomy ap-
pearance of the house opposite on which my two windows open When
I open them, pigeons hasten from the near-by roofs to beg a little of
my breakfast bread, then go away disappointed, for my short ration
does not allow me to make handsome gifts

I have just written, as rapidly as possible, two “imaginary inter-
views,” which may be worth nothing, but I shall not reread them until
later on when I am sure of my impetus Then I shall knuckle down
again to the preface for Goethe’s drama and to the preface for the
anthology 52

16 October

I have worked all these last few days on going over and perfecting
these “Imaginary Interviews” that I am planning to give to the Figaro

17 October

For whoever complains that the sudden turn of national feeling is
not based on the central opinion of the country

Of necessity a turn is always taken on the wing-tip Not on the
wmg-tips but specifically on one wing Though a revolution may call
itself “national,” it always marks the victory of a single party

SI October

I finish Pearl Buck’s The Mother It is a fine book, which I blame
myself for having read m translation Probably what I am about to say
of it would be even more noticeable m the original it is a Chinese

52 The Intermews imagmaires appeared serially in the literary supple-
ment of the Figaro, then published m Lyon They were first published in
book form by Pantheon Books, New York, m 1943 The preface to Goethe
introduced the edition of Goethe’s Drama published in the Pleiade Collec-
tion m Paris m May 1942 Gide s Anthologie de la Poem frangatse , m the
same Pl&ade Collection, did not appear until spring 1949, though the pref-
ace had substantially come out in Poetique (NeucMtel Ides et Calendes,
1947 )

90 Journal 1941

book, but equally, and even more, a Protestant book I mean by this
that the author is visibly brought up on the Bible, whence that sort
of austerity, of nudity in the narration, whence that grandeur, that
nobility without ostentation, that lofty resignation, the very tone of the
narration, often, is Biblical

And I plunge immediately afterward mto The Good Earth

19 November

Diverted from this Journal for a month by the articles promised to
the Figaro

I know that I am constantly escaping from the image people have
of me, but can do nothing about it

Equally unfit for sulking and for hating

27 November

I cannot, however, let this by

“The ground is disseminated with enemy tanks immobilized or on
fire” (Italian communique of 26 November )

The vivacity of Stendhal's style is constituted by the fact that he
does not wait until the sentence has completely taken shape m his head
to write it down I recall a passage (m Armance y I believe) m which
he says “Octave (?) spoke much better since he had got mto the
habit of beginning his sentences without knowing how he would end
them/' or something similar I must have already quoted this some-
where 53

7 December

Forsaken this notebook since I began my articles for the Figaro
However good they may be, they could not take the place of what I
might have said here

I am writing m the semidarkness of a movie theater while waiting
for the showing (announced for eleven o’clock) of anti-Bolshevist
“documents ” Tickets are two francs apiece, with a special price for
soldiers, students of any land whatever, members of the Legion, etc
The result is that there is a crowd As always, I had come very early,
and even (having read the announcement an hour early) long before
the line had begun to form Hence I was one of the first to get m But
as soon as I had passed the ticket window, I noticed that I had lost my
red sweater Odd how one can attach oneself to objects! (It is a shame
that there is nothing reciprocal about this ) Yesterday both my arms
were lanced for a full half-hour while trying to force my vein to ac-

68 See The Journals of Andre Gxde > Vol II, p 33,

Journal 1941 91

cept an injection of “tenebryl” in order to permit an X-ray of my kid-
neys 64 The loss of this wool waistcoat caused me just as sharp a
pam, I felt it bemg torn from my arm I alerted the police, the woman
m chaige of the checkroom but no hope of seeing it agam A
woolen waistcoat today is too good a find

It had already, on earlier occasions, tried several times to get away
Consequently I was keeping an eye on it You are so well aware when
an object is detaching itself from you, wants to leave you like a child
emancipating himself when one has ceased to control him A moment
of inattention and the trick is played

The film was most painful, even if all the scenes were fairly taken
and offered only authentic views, the camera's possibility of choosing
and presenting but one aspect of reality invites it to the worst kinds of
deceit It is essential to arouse public indignation agamst Bolshevism
Nothing is easier here are hideous aspects of poverty, sordid holes,
ragged creatures dymg of hunger And the Red film that offered but
this aspect of czarism would be just as unfair

The public greatly applauded the upsetting of a statue of Lemn,
then the recruitmg of French soldiers, and Italians especially, which
made it easy to understand how the audience was made up Enough to
disgust one from bemg interested m the fate of men The systematic
belittling of the enemy merely debases the victor

RECOVERED PAGES

La Messugiire , Cabns , 1941
These recent months I was absorbed by The History of Civilization
in England by Henry Thomas Buckle, the second volume of which is
almost altogether filled with considerations on France This remark-
able work, which appeared in 1861, must have already been translated
into French, but it is in the three-volume English edition (Oxford
University Press) that I was reading and am still reading, for I have
rarely read anything more enthralling Although tending toward the
greater glory of England, Buckle, with masterly courtesy and impar-
tiality, does homage to France, which he justifies at length, and, while
pointing out on the other hand with appropriate and well-informed
sagacity our shortcomings and the errors that made inevitable the
bloody revolution (which he elsewhere considers as "The most im-
portant event of history”), which English discretion, he claims, and
the state's noninterference in spiritual matters succeeded m avoiding,

54 Tinebryl is a French product (Laboratoires A Guerbet) containing
a large percentage of soluble iodine It is used in urography

gz Journal 1941

he writes and I cannot read this praise without emotion “Within the
limits I have set myself, I could not do justice to the marvelous ac-
tivity which the French mmd then manifested” (in the eighteenth
century) “by carrying on its investigations m all the realms of the or-
ganic and inorganic world ” And farther on “In these two vast
fields of science” (chemistry and geology) “we owe the first and most
important explorations to the French ” And again “That we owe to
France the very existence of chemistry as a science cannot be ques-
tioned by anyone for whom the word science has the proper meaning ”
Expatiatmg later on the research and discoveries of Cuvier and of
Bichat (he holds the latter's work, m the history of the human race’s
intellectual development, to be “as important as that of the greatest
geniuses, Aristotle, Bacon, or Descaites”), particularly m zoology, but
more generally in all the branches of natural science, it is to French-
men, he says, that we owe the loftiest discoveries and speculations
of human knowledge Speaking elsewhere of Lavoisier before him,
Buckle claims, certain partial problems had been moie or less clarified
by English chemists whose experiments revealed the existence of pre-
viously unknown substances, but the still missing connection, the re-
lating of scattered observations, what allowed chemistry to set itself
up leally as a science, and those perceptions which were later on
developed by German chemists, were all given us by “the vast dis-
coveries of Lavoisier”, and he adds “The credit” (for these discoveries
in chemistry) “is so obviously due to France that the whole system,
though soon adopted m other countries, was known under the name
of French Chemistry” ( Vol II, p 300) Then Buckle quotes these lines
from Thomson's History of Chemistry “This new nomenclature (due,
with the entire system on which it depends, to Lavoisier, Berthollet,
de Morveau and Fourcroy) penetrated and won out m all the coun-
tries of Europe, despite the prejudices and the resistance it encoun-
tered everywhere ” How can one fail to be touched by such tributes?

Does Buckle overestimate the importance of the role played by
France in that epoch of intellectual development? I am not qualified
to judge of this, but it strikes me as unbecoming for me, a Frenchman,
when a foreigner praises my country, to reduce his praise and say you
are exaggerating Yes, I read these praises with emotion and I shall
be forgiven, at a time when we so greatly need comforting, for having
quoted them at some length (Buckle develops them at much greater
length still) I was diverted from this, at the beginning of March, by
an article of Abel Bonnard entitled “Change m Epoch” which I read
with just as great, but quite different, emotion “The man of the eight-
eenth century,” he says, “thinks as an idle man either because m fact
he has no occupation or else because he gives so little of himself to
the one he has that he draws none of his general ideas from it, hence

Journal 1941 93

the fewer things it embraces, the farther his thought is seen to spread
out, and that very extension is in direct ratio to its emptiness ” 00 Bon-
nard may well write subsequently and quite correctly “There was
many a man of noble birth in the seventeenth century who became
passionately interested in philosophy, and the effect of this was to
withdraw them from society, the men of noble birth m the following
century, on the other hand, study only m order to shine m society ”
But, in the name of men of noble birth and their “itch” for knowledge,
is it appropriate, I ask you, to condemn altogether an admirable and
worthy effort, the fruitful curiosity of so many modest minds who gave
French science at that time an unsurpassed brilliance and fame? Is it
becommg to write, thinking only of the dissolute and frivolous nobles
of the period “even when men become enamored” (m the eighteenth
century) “of a science, they do so not for the austere joys it eventu-
ally dispenses after long study but rather for the surprises and intoxica-
tions, the stimulating shocks it provokes at once, and at that time men
study much more m order to make their heads swim than to fill their
heads” — thus ignormg all the real investigators admired by Buckle
and finding no one worth mentionmg as eighteenth-century scholars
but the ridiculous Due d'Epemon, who serves as a travesty of them,
“so smitten with surgery that he spent his time looking for people on
whom to reveal” (he means “exercise”) “his talents,” overlooking so
many authentic investigators whose patient research established the
original bases of the natural sciences and of physiology?

“In order to make clearer what I am claiming,” Bonnard writes in
addition, “it is enough to note that the eternal truths of life to which
every poet gives a new expression are found neither m Hugo
nor m Lamartine ” Nonsense! But “I should be quite vexed,” he
has just said, “if anyone took what I am saying as an opimon, it is an
observation that I am presenting m all its certainty and all its plati-
tude” Then be vexed, Bonnard, but your “opinion” (for it is one
though you object to this) I can m no wise share, however platitudi-
nous your observation may be and however certain it may seem to you
Classical though my tastes may be, I cannot consider romanticism as
if it had never existed, and I hold Lamartine and Hugo to be just as
important representatives of France and of humanity as Mistral, whom
you set up against them (and who has but one shortcoming that he

55 "It is because that unoccupied man does not even know how, m any
particular regard, to work modestly ” I hesitate to set down the end
of his sentence, it is revelatory, and when we read “work modestly to main-
tain the order he enjoys,” we understand at once that Bonnard is criticizing
in the eighteenth century exactly what Buckle is praising the spirit of in-
quiry, of research, and the very idea of progress [A ]

gq Journal 1941

doesn't write m our language), as “Joseph de Maistre and Nietzsche,
Balzac and Gobineau, Proudhon and Peguy,” whom you crown latei
on in a staggering honors-list It seems to me, and the more precarious
our present becomes, that the moment is ill chosen for such volun-
tary amputations and gratuitous disowmngs On the contrary, I enjoy
hearing Marcel Arland declare m his preface to a very recent anthol-
ogy 56 “French poetry cannot be reduced to its oratorical beauty,
to its power of incantation, to the splendor of its lmageiy, to the depth
of its thought, or to the novelty and vigor of the emotions it expresses
This or that aspect, according to the epoch, may piedommate m our
poetry, but peihaps its noblest vntue lies in havmg given itself to each
one in turn and united them, in its loftiest moments, m an almost
miraculous equilibrium " Claiming to reduce France and her past and
her culture to being, or havmg been, merely this or that strikes me
as blasphemy At present the important thing is to find out what we
can save of France Of all forms of love, love for one's country is
surely the hardest to define If there is but one way of dying for one's
country, there are many ways of living for it, of lovmg it, and even
mutually exclusive ways, as becomes clear m civil wars Each of the
parties that arise at such a time accuses the other, consideimg it as an
enemy of the country This involves no misunderstanding, but simply
this that each individual, according to his upbringing, tastes, interests,
and favorite ideas, feels diawn to this or that part of the whole, ex-
clusive of all the rest — to certain monuments of our history, to certain
partial manifestations of our genius throughout history, or else to
specific latent possibilities to which respect for tradition and for Tem-
pons acti is opposed Probably no country has offered a greater diver-
sity of cultures, of aspirations, of tendencies, of manifestations, of
creeds than ours And this is mdeed what constitutes her complex
beauty Who can say whether she is better represented by King or
League, skepticism or belief, romanticism or classicism? And, more
specifically m literature, whereas for many another country almost
complete unanimity can be massed around Dante, Cervantes, Camoens,
or Goethe, our admiration oscillates between Montaigne and Pascal,
Ingres and Delacroix, Bossuet and Moliere, Racine and Hugo, and
today between Claudel and Valery Who would dare to state that our
genius used itself up m forming a single one of them? More than any
other country m Europe, our country had and cultivated a sense of
dialogue (conversation, discussion, controversy, debate) Most likely
on the approach of a common danger she can and must unite her en-
ergies m unanimity, as we have seen that she can do But never, save
for a short time and atrher worst moments, has she listed altogether m

56 Anthology of French Poetry (1941)

Journal 1941 95

a single direction I was wont to think and say this m peacetime, I
think this just as vigorously today, and adverse circumstances have
brought about no change For, as Buckle most excellently says in his
chapter on Spam (Vol II, ch vm) "Toward the end of the eight-
eenth century, the French invasion brought that unfortunate country
every form of calamity and degradation Yet it is essential to make
a distinction Calamities may be inflicted by others, but no nation can
be degraded but by itself A foreign nation can bring the horrors of
invasion but nothing that need cause shame For nations as for in-
dividuals, dishonor comes only from ceasing to remain faithful to one-
self There is no material suffering from which one cannot rise
provided one maintains that feeling of self-reliance, which is the spring
and the source of real greatness ”

Nice, 1 January

I open a new notebook to begin tins new year, leaving the other but
half filled Wrote nothing further in it since tying myself down to
those regular ai tides for the Figaro, lacking time and furthermore hav-
ing no heart to write anything m it

I have aged frightfully of late It is as if I were getting away from
myself Oh, without any melancholy! It seems to me that I shall take
leave of myself without regrets

Catherine might have bound me to life, but she is interested only
in herself — and that does not interest me

I have again become interested m work and enjoy a semblance of
happiness at my writing-table My thought takes shape easily, so long
as it is not profound, and m my articles I merely touch the surface of
thoughts I remain without opinion m the face of events, wondering at
times whether I shall be able to find a place and a raison d'etre in the
new universe that is confusedly taking shape This I believe that it
can have no relation to this farce of a “national revolution,” which I
cannot take seriously The real heartbeats of France are hidden and
cannot let themselves be heard For the moment everything is but
temporary outward show, boasting, and deceit The soil is still too far
from firm for anything to be built on it Everything depends on

It is almost midnight I am sleepy Let us put off tall tomoirow the
continuation of these ratiocinations

I finish Sartoris 1 Have begun to reread Egmont m a volume of
Goethe lent by Theodor Wolf, whom I went to see this afternoon

2 January

In what I wrote of Catherine I intended but very little censure I
am not displeased that that child should develop uncommonly and m
a way that is rather baffling for those who are following her She resem-
bles me much too much not to force me to think that I was like what she
is today and that I should have acted likewise without that great love
which, almost at the outset of life, raised me so far above myself But
up to now she has shown no love or persistent attention but for herself,
and if I add that her voice is getting beautiful and that, on certain
days, she can be full of charm and grace, this is enough, m her eyes,
to make her accept all the rest Despite her egotism, she has always

1 By William Faulkaer

Journal 1942 97

shown an interest in others, and in a way of which I am particularly
appreciative as a novelist, so to speak, and I think now as an actress
I had rejoiced immoderately over those lessons I was preparmg
to give her m Nice, but I soon had to come down a peg All her time
is taken up with other lessons (dancmg, singing, elocution), which
merely direct her attention to herself She never gets away from her-
self from morning to night, and even the little reading she does on the
outside interests her only m so far as she can bring it mto some relation
with herself I had been delighted to see her become enthusiastic
about some sonnets or other by Heredia, she said she wanted to know
others I took pleasure in giving her Les Trophees in a very decently
bound copy I had found at Grasse But her desire disappeared at once
and I don’t believe she ever even opened the volume I experienced
such disappointments with Marc, it was enough for something to come
from me for the curiosity he had evinced to die immediately It is as if
first one and then the other had to defend himself against me It is
better thus, I try to convince myself

4 January

Now that my pen has almost lost its rust, I should be far better off
just to let it write away For instance, m doing that preface for
Goethe’s drama I write with ease and joy what comes to my mind, but
I am embarrassed by the mass of notes I took and now don’t know how
to fit m This labor of joining together is alone difficult, the thoughts,
once they have cooled off, are recalcitrant and resist the welding One
no longer knows where to grasp them

Certain natures, and their nobility can be recognized by this, are
more mclmed to accept affliction than felicity

5 January

Even though it was Sunday yesterday, I had worked more than
eight hours on my preface for Goethe and was about to get back to it
after dinn er, but fear of thereby causing myself a sleepless night
hurled me into a neighboring movie-house I did not stay long, the
theater was three-quarters empty and swept by frigid drafts Barely
cured of a new cold, I am extremely vulnerable, hastened to get back
to shelter

Regret at not having been able to see the beginning of a most in-
teresting (German) documentary on the birds of a lake in Pom-
erania, I suppose

I again dreamed last night that at the piano I recovered the great-
est nimbleness I had ever had I was playing Chopin's first Etude in a

g 8 Journal 1942

staggering way Rather like a blind man dreaming that he had sud-
denly recovered his sight

By the way, what can possibly be the dreams of a man born blmd?
I ought to say of what, of what stuff, are they made?

Charming lunch at the Bussys’ Returned home, immediately after-
ward, to sleep an hour, but not enough to overcome a sluggishness that
is disastrous for work Nothing to do about it, and rather than spoil
my preface, after a few vam attempts, went out again In a less cold
theater than yesterday s the same film on the birds was bemg shown,
but agam I missed the beginning Followed by a long historical film
on Ireland, made up of German propaganda and heavily vulgar, hke
everything that emanates from their dispensaries But, eager to learn,
I had already seen Jud Suess , Magda , Mane Stuart, Sebastopol 2 This
last was the only one that, accompanied by Elisabeth, I had seen to
the end Nothing is better designed to bring out the different levels of
culture of our two nations These films seem intended for a public
that needs to have sentiments spelled out before it understands, and
can read only capital letters at that Everything is over-pointed up, the
action, the dialogues, and the actors' manner of playing It is decidedly
unbearable The English, it goes without saying, are treated to a real
dose

I should be greatly surprised if such films do not constitute a sort
of reverse propaganda m France

6 January

Not a day goes by without my openmg the paper m the mommg
with the hope of finding news of some amazing event No, just
the ordinary run of things ships sunk, cities bombed or set on fire,
people killed and wounded, always by the thousands a monoto-
nous daily refrain

Charming lunch with Roger Martm du Card, both of us as guests
of Marc and Nadine, who were at their best But my tenacious cold

2 Produced by the Reich Film Controller, Dr Fritz Hippier, m 1940 and
directed by Veit Harlan, Jud Suess (with the famous actor Werner Krauss
in the title role) was a sensational anti-Semitic propaganda picture To em-
phasize its importance, it was shown simultaneously m sixty-six Berlin
theaters in December 1940 Mane Stuart (Das Herz der Komgm) and
Magda were both directed by Carl Froehhch, with the Swedish actress
Zarah Leander m the principal role Magda was based on Hermann Suder-
mann’s naturalistic play Hetmat Sebastopol was an anti-Russian propaganda
film of pseudo-documentary character

Journal 1942 99

deafens me to the pomt where I have trouble keeping up with the very
interesting conversation

After a session with the dentist I return to the hotel, where Roger
soon joins me Reading of the preface, at least of the first part Excel-
lent advice from Roger, who leaves me thoroughly bucked up

After dinner Alexandre Bachrach, who has come with Bunm to
Nice, comes m for a game of chess, the first one with him that I wm
smce playing in Grasse

I go to bed only after having read some hundred lines of the
Iphtgeme auf Tauris 3

After the Iphtgeme , picked up Lessing’s drama for Emtlta Galotti,
which I did not yet know What I think of it? I should have to
make subtle distinctions Not m a mood for that And now I
want to go back to Mma — read at the time of Fraulem Siller, but I
have too vague a recollection of it

Man spncht selten von der Tugend , die man hat , aber desto ofter
von der , die uns fehlt (Lessing Mtna 7 Act II, scene 1 ) 4

SO January

The ai tides for the Figaro have taken all the time I did not give to
readmg No desire to note anything m this notebook The effort I made
here to get interested m myself failed And it’s odd how prejudicial
paper ruled m squares is to my thought, to my pleasure m writing
(But no other paper can be found today, in Nice at least ) It is so seri-
ous that I wonder if, with more pleasing sheets, I might not have con-
tinued to keep my journal and if its cessation is not due rather to that
external cause, so petty I have never written anything worth while at
any time without enjoying the physical appearance of my writing A
bad pen is enough to hamper my style

I finished today Hermann und Dorothea , which began by disap-
pointing me greatly, but which m its entirety will leave me with the
memory of a woik that is perfect of its kind, one of the happiest and
most accomplished achievements of Goethe It even seems to me that
the tone rises from canto to canto in order to achieve toward the end
a sort of half-homely, half-epic grandeur of a most peculiar type,
which calmly touches the sublime and constantly escapes the banal
while bordering on the prosaic I don’t know anything by Goethe that
is more specifically German or that is more notably lackmg in our
literature An exemplary book accessible to all ages, to all classes, and

s Goethe’s tragedy, Iphtgema m Tauns

* "One seldom speaks of the virtue one has, but much oftener of the
virtue one lacks ”

lOO

Journal 1942

to all types of minds, worth consulting for its fine teaching and ex-
ample After it one no longer dares poke fun at edifying literature

"Shall we always look for wit m the things that call for it least?”
(Racine to Boileau, letter dated 30 May without indication of year )

1 February

Many ways of saying a thing, most often the best form is the one
that comes to mind at once It is that spontaneous style that delights
us in Stendhal It always seems that one is taking his thought by sur-
prise as it jumps out of bed before dressing Rut there are other ways
of writing well I do not like thought to bedeck itself, but rather to
concentrate and stiffen itself, the manner of Montesquieu and of
Tacitus Following Dorothy Bussy’s example, I launch into the Life
of Agricola Each sentence is full, heavy, taut I tarry to weigh every
word, they fill my heart and mouth At the outset I am seized What
authority! How much I prefer that sort of wild austerity to grace! I
took the book with me, I read it while walking and, without exhaust-
ing its bitter essence, ruminate one of those vigorous maxims m which
the will stiffens

“Memonam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus , si tam m nos-
tra potestate esset obhvisci quam tacere 99

“Subit quippe etiam ipsius mertise dulcedo, et invisa pnmo desidia
posiremo amatur 99 5

6 February

Last night at the movies The French newsreels fill one’s heart
with tears and make one blush It seems as if the wine of defeat has
intoxicated us, never have we shown ourselves to be prouder than now
that there is so little reason to be All claims to past fame are spread
out on the screen in an attempt to make the present share m its bril-
liance People congratulate, admire themselves, going into raptures
over the splendor and fragile vastness of our "Empire ” It is enough to
make one weep

And, as a conclusion, a mighty row about the bicycle race called
"Tour de France * on which, if you believe them, the entire universe
has its eyes trained "The most important m the world * Just think a
five-thousand-kilometer race! And the reproduction "by Belinogram”

5 "We should have lost memory as well as voice, had it been as easy to -
forget as to keep silence *

"Besides, the charm of indolence steals over us, and the idleness which at
first we loathed we afterwards love ” (Translated by Alfred John Church and
William Jackson Brodribb.)

lOl

Journal 1942

(that “French invention* ) of the winners photo in the newspapers of
the world Oh, by heaven, Germany can well afford to leave us this
bauble, if we are satisfied with it!

Beside this a German documentary on radium, which is excellent
and mterests me particularly since I have just read from cover to cover
(without, moreover, understanding much, but with uninterrupted
amazement) Gaston Dupuy’s little book on radioactivity 6

But what is that compared to the glorious “Tour de France*' 5 With
what glory, alas, the people are forced to be satisfied today 1 J (I am well
aware that this is merely movie propaganda ) And even if “all-round
athletes* were involved* But no, France was inferior in all the Olympic
competitions, the only laurels she won came from a single event the
bicycle race*

7 February

Texts are not wantmg m my Journal to show that at the time of the
first war I very clearly understood what a Franco-German collabora-
tion might be 7 I actually longed for such collaboration at a time when
it was possible without dishonor At that time it seemed antipatriotic
to think of it It would have been wise and noble to suggest it to Ger-
many after our victory Today I have reached the pomt of not know-
ing what solution of the present conflict would be least ruinous for
France, but I hold the collaboration Germany is offering us as a piece
of trickery wholly to her advantage, of which she will be able to make
capital when the time comes There is no question whatever of her
helping us to make the most of our good qualities and virtues, but
rather of stifling them, and the most lamentable thing about it is seeing
France heiself lend a hand and help in this

Those grandiloquent and ridiculous remarks that always make a hit
with us (ah, we shall never correct ourselves*) This morning the
papers quote with admiration these “sublime words* of M Hennot m
his lecture of yesterday “If France were to die, all the nations as-
sembled could not raise her coffin * The image is, no doubt, flattering
all those nations assembled for a funeral No, it all takes place m si-
lence, and since there is no coffin, there can be no question of rais-
ing it The world simply goes on, disregarding

And now that France is diminished, that she is living solely on
hopes and with a precarious and, as it were, problematic existence,
there is serious talk of rebaptizmg her, of calling her the French Em-
pire! The more one loses footing, the higher one holds up one's head

« Radium et radioactivity published by Presses Umversitaires in 1941, is
a treatise of but 127 pages

7 See The Journals of Andre Gide , VoL II, pp 113, £13—14, £82—4,
VoL III, pp 142-3

102

Journal 1942

National self-esteem takes refuge m those colonies which, even yes-
terday, when our countiy was intact, seemed veiy unwisely spread
out for her size and which tomorrow, like a superstructure out of all pro-
portion, may well make her topple on her side like the Normandie 8
But will not England, likewise and before us, lose one after the
other her overseas possessions, which constituted her prestige and
glory? After Singapore, the impregnable, shall we not soon see India
and then Egypt escape her?

15 February

I have spent two hours trying to write a reply to Gillomn’s accusa-
tions m the Journal de Gen&ve (No 33) of the first of February 9 But
Roger M du G, to whom I show that article and this outline of a
reply, points out something I hadn’t noticed Gilloum implies that
that “young man of great promise” for whose suicide Gilloum claims
me to be responsible (this is an old story served up again) had pre-
sumably killed himself not merely after havmg read my books, but
even under my direct influence, that frequenting me perverted him,
and even that I directly “depraved” him

From beginning to end that story is a pure (or impure) invention,
what the English call “a forgery ” 10 I know it only through Gilloum,
through Camille Mauclair, and through a vengeful pamphlet entitled
An Evildoer (lam the evildoer), prefaced by “Mgr de Beaumont, for-
tunately deceased,” as it was worded That avowed apocrypha, at-
tributed to the author of the Mandement portant condamnation du hvre
qui a pour titre Emile (1772), 11 should have sufficed to put people on
guard and to keep them from believing it

s On 9 February 1942 the greatest ship of the French Line, the Nor-
mandie, caught on fire at her pier in New York and toppled over on her
side This entry could not, therefore, have been made on 7 February

9 Rene Gillouin’s article on the first page of the Sunday supplement of
the Journal de Geneve, No 33, for 7-8 February 1942, was entitled “Re-
sponsibilities of Writers and Artists ” While also scolding Aristide Bnand
for his statement on divorce, Leon Blum for his book on marriage, and Jean
Cocteau for his play Les Parents tembles, Gilloum directs his attack chiefly
at Gide "I received a few years ago, and many other writers must have re-
ceived likewise, a letter m which a father related with a soitow all the more
convincing for being restrained how his son, a young man of great promise,
had been perverted, dissipated, and finally led to suicide by the influence
of Andrd Gide To just what extent was Andr4 Gide responsible for the
death of that adolescent (and for the demoralization, at the very least, of
many others)? God alone knows ”

xo The words in quotation marks appear m English in the original

II Pastoral Letter Condemning the Booh Entitled Emile UEmile is Rous-
seau’s treatise on education

Journal 1942 103

Should I cite m return the testimony of those I have saved from
despair, of those already close to suicide 0 What’s the use? Gil-
louin will not let himself be convinced He will say, if that young sui-
cide exists only m the imagination of Mgr de Beaumont and of Mau-
clair

“If it is not he, it must be his bi other ’ 12

It is better not to start a discussion that I could not carry on to the
end and m which the opponent has made up his mmd m advance to
lay the blame on me

22 February

That extreme contentment that Chateaubriand s style provides
when he is at his best I have never felt more keenly than m his Vie de
Ranee , the fust chapter of which I finish with rapture 13

Did Betz himself ever achieve so lively and delightful a style with
secret, almost musical overtones that prolong the sentence well be**
yond the mind’s satisfaction? On reading Chateaubriand how can one
fail to thmk of Barr&s, who is never so good as when most recalling
him?

Verify one’s admirations Was it really so remarkable? How much
of it was amazement? Now that this book has ceased to surprise us,
let us go back to it On rereadmg certain books I am amazed at my
original amazement I am surprised not to have been sufficiently struck
at first by certain other things

The moment when one begins to detach oneself somewhat, when
one ceases to cling so firmly to the branch Soon one will be ready to
pick Is it so hard to die as people thmk? Doubtless one has only to
let oneself go, the mistake hes in hanging on too much to life

Those who protest most agamst Rousseau’s influence and point out
how pernicious it is are the very ones who are most shocked that he
should have turned over his offspring to a foundling home On the con-
trary, they ought to congratulate him on this, judging that Rousseau
never did anyt hin g wiser, if indeed his influence was pernicious if
indeed he ever had any children

12 In La Fontaine’s fable of The Wolf and the Lamb (I, 10) the lamb
answers the wolfs accusation of having spoken ill of the wolf last year by
pointing out that he is only a few months old, to this the wolf replies * If
it was not you, it must have been your brother ”

13 Life of Rand (1844), the reformer of the Trapp ist Order

104 Journal 1942

It is obviously Beranger that Chateaubriand means when he writes
“These lines, which are not so good as those of our great song-
writer, but which already marked out the path by which France was
to reach an immortality that belongs only to her” (Vie de RancS, chap-
ter iv, p 195)

IS March

Ranc6 and his monstrous standards *That passionate hatred of
life,” as Chateaubriand says, quoting him thus “Gods intention, when
he gives us enjoyment of light, is to deprive us of it ” Holy absurdity!
He might just as well say “When God deprives us of light, this is to
give us enjoyment of it ”

“We live in order to die ” Ranee might say just as well and better
we die m order to live Oh, how willingly I subscribe to this remark
of Chateaubriand “Ranee would deserve to be expelled from the
human race,” without the restriction and the “if” that he adds!

And “m all his thoughts are found merely repetitions of the
same idea ” Immediately afterward Chateaubriand holds forth on Vol-
taire!

S April

Les Fleurs de Tarhes could or ought to serve as a preface to Jean
Meckert’s astounding book 14

10 April

There was a time when, painfully tormented and plagued by de-
sire, I used to pray for the time when the flesh, subjugated, would let
me give myself completely to But give oneself to what? To art?
To “pure” thought? To God? What ignorance! What madness! This
was tantamount to believing that the flame will shine brighter from
the lamp that has run out of oil Abstract, my very thought goes out,
even today it is the carnal m me that feeds it, and now I pray may I
remain carnal and full of desire unto death!

I have always thought that we raise children badly m France, and
perhaps this is the chief thing of which I accuse families

Public garden looted No guard The children trample the lawns,
break the branches of trees, strip flowering bushes of their buds And
not a parent to put a stop to this absurd havoc, which they don’t even
much enjoy. It is merely a matter of destroying and of keeping from
anyone what ought to belong to all Is this a question of the French

14 A powerful first novel of the proletariat, Les Coups ( The Blows ) , had
appeared in 1941 and brought Meckert to Gide’s attention

Journal 1942 105

temperament? Or merely, as I should prefer, of upbringing? Nation
unworthy of the liberty they claim, makes one constantly and every-
where long for policemen, keepers of the peace and of order, fences,
and “keep off” signs

Yesterday Catherine announced to me the departure of her singing
teacher I was expectmg and hopmg that she would offer me those
newly free hours which I should be so happy to devote to those lessons
she ceased to ask of me for lack of time, m which I was getting ready
to give her the best of me

That she did not ask me to take them back, is not this a clear sign
that those lessons did not really interest her? She probably did not see
the advantage she could get from them I was the one who put forth
the whole effort of attention, not she, who merely lent herself I
should have been so able and so eager to teach her to recite poetry

Now she is quite at loose ends, readily returning to that soft state
of idleness in which she has always lived until now, not knowing how
to create obligations and duties for herself Yet she has never been
more charming, and particularly to me But I shall go away from her
without regret, sadly noting how badly and how little she makes use
of my devotion for her

Oh, if only she could say to me “I now have some free time, do
you want us to make the best of it?” What a joy it would be, it would
have been, for me to help her! And as a result I should have no other
desire than to remain with her

From the moment when I realized and convinced myself that man
is responsible for God

And the wonderful thing is that by believing he was saving hu-
manity Christ did actually save it

Likewise it may be said that prayer creates God

It is good to let the child think that God sees him, for he must aet
as if within the sight of God and make of that his conscience

The considerable number of things I have not said because they
seemed to me too obvious, too much of the type that “goes without
saying” and not worth saying And yet when one finally lets one-
self go, or forces oneself, to write them, one is amazed to see how
many people are still surprised by them and ready to declare that one
has never written anything more remarkable

As I open my Journal, my eyes fall on thus passage in which I al-
ready said (23 August 1926) “The most important things to sav are

io 6 Journal 1942

those which often I did not think necessary to say — because they
seemed to me too obvious ” 15

It is independently of our will that ideas take shape m us and de-
velop There exists for them a sort of “struggle for life,” 16 of survival
of the fittest, and some of them die of exhaustion The sturdiest are
those that feed, not on abstraction, but on life, they are also the ones
that are hardest to formulate

The history of an idea would be interesting to write It may also
be that an idea dies Yes, it would be a fine subject the birth, life, and
death of an idea If only I could count on enough time to write it

11 April

Where had I got the idea that it was all over, that spring had ceased
to interest me and would never seize hold of me again? For days now,
since the weather has become fine again and the air is warm, I feel that
I have the soul of a migratory bird and think only of setting out I book
a berth on the ship leaving Marseille for Tunis on 2 May Ah, why am I
not already there I Everything will have begun alieady Again I am
going to miss the Overture

I note in the review Foreign Affairs (issue of January 1942), which
my new friend Keeler Faus of the U S Embassy lends me, as a foot-
note to a long article “Russia and Germany,” signed X

“General Karl Adolf Maximilian Hoffmann was one of the greatest
German General Staff officers in the last war His mother was
descended from the Du Buisson family Like him, and like the great
Moltke, nearly all the great German army leaders of the past hundred
years, with the characteristic exception of Ludendorff, have had some
Huguenot ancestry ” 17

Has a list ever been drawn up of the exiled families, of the gifts
that France made to foreign countries through the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes?

5 am, 5 May

The Chanzy left Marseille yesterday at about 11 a m I spent almost
the whole day lying down, an icy wind was plowing up the sea, which
calmed down toward evening and I was able to dme without too much
discomfort Since midnight one can’t help wondering if we are moving,
one has to be attentive to feel the slight vibration of the engines The
moon still three-quarters full To the east a few intermittent light-
houses, we must be passing the Balearic Islands No one on deck I

15 See The Journals of AndrS Gide, Vol II, p 387

16 In English m the original

17 Quoted m English in the original

Journal 1942 107

take some calomel because my gall-bladder hurts Lord, how tired I
was yesterdayl Let’s go back to bed

10 o'clock

Had coffee at about rune I had kept a piece of Cantal cheese from
last night’s dmner All the bread one can eat, or almost The rather
heavy swell had reduced the number of diners, the able-bodied en-
joyed what was intended for the absent ones Already at lunch a much
more abundant fare than for a long time now on land Animal delight
m at last being able to eat one’s fill I very much need to build myself
up The last days in Marseille did me in So many hours chasmg from
office to office to get the necessary visas, identification marks and
stamps, had I been alone, I believe I should have given up But Ballard,
the ever obliging, accompanied me everywhere, kept an eye on me,
palliated my lapses, omissions, or distractions At the last moment, after
our farewells, he came back to remind me that I had forgotten to check
my trunk I have to hurry back to the pier and chase from one fantastic
place to another All very Kafka I keep thinking of The Trial Feeling
of not yet “having put everything m order ” If one had to go through
so many formalities to die Material for a wonderful tale “You
can’t go away like that ” But at least then one has no right to take
anything along That would be one of the finest chapters of the book
detachment Roger Martin du Gard is amazed that death, the idea of
death, causes me so little worry Were it not for apprehension of the
final pangs (perhaps, after all, less dreadful than they seem from a
distance), I really believe I am rather soberly resigned I have had my
fill on this earth A certain happy equilibrium is worked out and one
reaches the end of the banquet without much wanting it to go on
longer Others are waiting for one’s place, it is their turn

I reproach myself for not having sent an mterzone card to Jeanme
Valery from Marseille to tell her at once my delight in seemg Paul
agam, more gallant, more real, more charming than ever 18 And never
have my friendship and admiration for that incomparable personality
seemed to me keener and more unqualified I experience nothing but
joy in noting his incontrovertible superiority and his widespread in-
fluence, which are tempered by the most charming graciousness I
hold myself to be but very little in comparison with him, but have
learned not to suffer from this He no longer stands m my way, I have
accomplished my work on a different plane from his — which I under-
stand too well and admire too much not to admit that that work of
mine has no place m his system and no value m his eyes He is right,

18 Correspondence between the so-called “free zone” and the “occupied
zone” of France was then limited to postcards

ioS Journal 1942

and my friendship even approves him for not “considering” me His
marvelous intelligence, though with nothing inhuman about it, owes it
to itself to be strict and exclusive In comparison with which I seem to
myself to be wallowing m approximation The most wonderful thing
is that his mind, without abandonmg any of its severity, has managed
to preserve all its poetic value, managed to contribute to poetic crea-
tion that very severity which might have been thought hostile to art
and which, on the contrary, makes of Valery’s art such a consummate
marvel I admire the unflinching direction and victorious peisistence of
his effort No one m orn time has more effectively or more consistently
aided intellectual progress, no one could more legitimately write
I knotv ivhere I am going
And want to lead yon there, 1 *
nor was capable of leading so far

3 pm

But, led by Valeiy, I should no longer have dared to write It was
my awareness of this that so greatly and for so long stood m my way
I overcame this and went on

The Chanzy is noiselessly continuing its calm progress The sea is
calm I have slept

I cannot succeed m getting involved m The Bishop Murder Case
by S S Van Dme (book lent m Marseille by Mme Ballard), no inter-
est, up to now, but that of a well-constructed clockwork I rest myself
from it with VHomme devant la science by Leeomte du Nouy 20 I
read m it “If mathematics achieve truth, says Vico, this is because the
mmd makes mathematics the criterion of truth lies hence m being
made The true is what one makes ” This is indeed what allows man to
believe m God

I did well to change notebooks, what kept me from keeping my
journal was in great pait the square-ruled pages of the other one Quite
surprised on opening this one to find a few pages that strike me as
very ordinary as I reread them, which I had forgotten to the point of
not recognizing them at all or having any idea as to when I might have

19 The lines

Je sais oil je mis ,

Je fy veux condmre ,

are from Valery’s poem, Ulnsmuant Gide, quoting from memory, gives
them as

Je sais oil 70 vais
Laisse~toi condmre

See The Journals of Andre Gide , Vol III, p 80, where Gide quotes from the
same poem

20 This book was published in English in 1947 as Bumm Destiny

Journal 1942 109

written them I do not tear them up, out of superstition fear of bring-
ing the notebook bad luck 21

8 SO pm

The sun first disappeared behind a thick mass of clouds and I
thought it was all over, but it reappeared altogether just above the
water, red and dull, so that the eye could watch it sinking whole into
the sea

9 am, 5 May

Slight swell On awakening, Africa is m sight, very close Then it
withdraws and the coastline recedes

Another great delight m Marseille was the meeting with Jean-Louis
Barrault Marc, who was awaiting me when the tram from Nice got
m, had taken me to dinner with him and Madeleine Renaud the first
evening m a cheap little restaurant near the station, where Barrault ate
his meal m a hurry before going to the radio station where he was to
read some scenes from Le Soulier de satm 22 Wonderful face instinct
with enthusiasm, passion, genius In his company Madeleine Renaud,

21 Then one of those inner voices that speak out during insomnia, which
one would like not to hear but cannot keep from listening to, began

Realize that it is not a matter of conquests and cease likening to other
events m history what has never before been seen Realize that what the
Utopians dream of, I do I have merely the life-span of a single man m
which to act I do not fear usmg force, even of the most brutal kind, to
achieve at once by compulsion what they vamly expect from the good will
of others Good or ill, no will matters, I mean matters in opposition to mine
I am not a dreamer, I am a realizer He who has force on his side can over-
ride everything Decency, morality, pity, justice, are merely empty words
to me No consideration, save of a practical sort, stops me What I intend
to achieve your timid imagination cannot even glimpse It was thought that
this was the spreading out of my people because in the beginning I spoke
of their vital space, but nothing less than the welfare of humanity is in-
volved That welfare can be realized only after all things, all peoples, all
moral values, are m place, all human activities ordered and subordinated
So long as humanity remains what it still is, the freedom that is granted to
men, as you are well aware, will lead not to harmony but to disorder It is
not enough for me to restrict that freedom, I must suppress it altogether
What matters the sacrifice of a few million abject creatures, totally in-
capable of attaining even the most modest happiness by themselves? This
holocaust is necessary to allow us to produce, on this miserable wreckage,
a healthy, strong, and joyful race With such a stake the game is worth
playing, don't you think? It is worth the trouble, and even a very con-
siderable trouble [A ]

22 Claudel's play. The Satin Slipper, which Barrault later staged at the
Com&he-Fransaise

no

Journal 1942

with charming modesty, remains in the background Neither in him
nor in her am I aware of any of the actor’s usual unbeaxable short-
comings Talented enough to remain simple

I saw both of them again the day before leaving, lunching with
them at their invitation in a very good restaurant on the square where
the wide avenue du Prado begins Barrault urges me insistently to
finish my translation of Hamlet for him, and I have such confidence m
his advice that I should like to get to work at once 23 I am much
pleased to learn that he and Sartre are close friends In their company,
through a keen personal affection, I feel my hopes rejuvenated

It is good to be able to direct one’s admiration toward the future
It would be a source of despair if one had to be satisfied with this
renaissance commissioned by order that is offered us today, this medi-
ocrity so willingly accepted

"That was enough to be aware,” is veiy bad syntax (The lack of
logic that fails to notice the change m subject ) Same type of error
"Mme Britan was enticed out of her house and led to the pile of rubbish
to kill her there ” ( Un Crime parfait , p 119 )

6 May

Sleepless night despite the codoforme and the gardenal 24 Calm
sea One does not even feel the vibration of the engines, one even
doubts at moments that we are moving This is partly because we are
moving very slowly I get up six times during the night The moon is
m its last quarter, the sky is clear

The call at Bone was disappointing The mosaics of Hippo are cov-
ered up for fear of bombs I believe, moreover, that the finest ones have
been moved to the Algiers museum

8 30 am

We are passing Sidi-bou-Said The sea was covered, in the early
morning, with those odd little jellyfish that were washed up last year
on the beaches of La Croix and the Jouan gulf We are to reach Tunis
m an hour 26

28 Andre Gide’s translation of the first act of Hamlet had appeared m
the Franco-Amencan review £ changes in December 1929

24 These are French pharmaceutical products, codoforme being tablets
composed of codeine, aconite, and belladonna, which dissolve in the in-
testine rather than m the stomach, and gardenal being a sedative used to
calm spasms, itchings, convulsions, headaches, etc

28 This is the end of the Journal 1939-1942 , published in Pans by
Librame Gallimard in 1946 That edition was preceded by the following
note

"Incomplete editions of this Journal have appeared in New York (Schif-

Journal 1942

111

Tunis , 7 May

The packages of tobacco I owe to the geneiosity of American friends
cause a certain amount of trouble with the customs, and the most
obliging Tourmer arrives a bit too late to save me Lunch at the restau-
rant of the Tumsia-Palace Lyric voracity Ten varieties of hors-d’oeuvre
(I counted them*) Everything strikes me as good beyond all hope
after the near-fast of Nice I devour m an unbelievable way, then go
and sleep for two hours

4 o'clock

Last night I had gone to pick up Tourmer and go with him to a
rather dull lecture by young Professor Astre “Defense of the Novel 99
Sound, but hardly origmal reflections designed for a not very alert
public Dinner m the manner of Giono, then long walk along the dark-
ened avenue de France

This morning I was a half-hour ahead of time at the appointment
with Tourmer to accompany him to the Assize Court where he is serv-
ing as a juror Acquittal of an Arab who had unintentionally committed
murder A rather uninteresting case Visit to the souks , then to the
pubhc library, remarkably well stocked and marked bv perfect order
throughout

8 May

I give up keepmg this insipid report I might as well set down the
menus of my meals No interest It would be better to give my atten-
tion to the article for the Figaro and try to finish it successfully

10 May

In a new set, it is the same act of the same play continuing I am
no longer paying attention It is already some time since I have ceased
to I am merely occupying the seat of someone who is taken for me

15 May

With great difficulty I have managed to put together (but how
well!) a new article for the Figaro , about Joyce, Paulhan, and Meckert,

fnn, 15 June 1944), m Algiers (Chariot, SO September 1944), and in Swit-
zerland (Editions du Haut-Pays, 5 April 1945) , preceded by a foreword (see
Appendix I)

“Extracts had been previously published by the review U Arche, which
was then appearing m Algiers We have thought it interesting to reproduce
an echo of the violent reactions they immediately aroused (see Appendixes
II and III) 99

The Appendixes will be found on pp 307-10

112

Journal 1942

whose novel Les Coups had held my attention 26 I am so far from
satisfied with the article that I join to it a letter inviting Bnsson to
refuse it, if he considers it too ordinary, without any fear of hurting
me The letter will probably strike him as pure affectation, for, how-
ever ordinary it may be, this article is still doubtless better than many
others signed with the best-known names, but I am less interested m
comparing myself with others than with myself, with what I am ca-
pable of writing on my best days Were I X , Y , or Z , I should not
have been proud of certain articles This is the great vice of journal-
ism forcing one to write when one has no inclination to do so One is
uninspired, the atmosphere is heavy, one’s pen scratches, one’s thought
is mvolved and the style amorphous But the article is promised
and the newspaper expects it Hence one writes anyway, though
annoyed with oneself for doing so, feeling that it is no good Then
there are always people to tell you that you have never written any-
thing better

The Kreutzer Sonata recorded by Thibaud and Cortot A series of
false starts and pauses (in the first movement at least) Too many
nuances One would like to have the whole composition swept along
by a demoniacal impulse that is not constantly dying m one quarter
to start up m another I am saying this of the interpretation, as for the
text itself, I find much rhetoric m it (in the Concerto in D for violin
even more! ), oratorical pathos, and "just see how I am panting!” School
of Pergamo

The wonderful toccata by Bach played by the Philadelphia or-
chestra, though written for the organ, but I prefer it on the piano,
where the different parts stand out better It does not seem to me that
Bach’s music has much to gam from the coloration the orchestra gives
it, however well it may be applied (as it is here), which tends to re-
move (or to hide) that almost mathematical necessity toward which
the music tends This amounts to humanizing it excessively The music
triumphs over that attempt, to be sure, and it may be said that if
Bach had known at his time the resources of the modern orchestra, he

26 The article appeared m two installments in the Figaro for 30 May
and 2 June 1942 under the title “Aux grands mots les petits remddes” ("Lit-
tle Remedies for Big Words”), which is a pun on the proverb “Aux grands
maux les grands remMes” ("Drastic Remedies for Drastic Ills”) In the
form of an imaginary interview, the article treats James Joyce's deforma-
tion of words, apropos of Louis Gillet’s book on Joyce, Meckert’s opposition
to ready-made expression and thought, and Paulhan's treatise on rhetoric
Though it appeared in the series of Intermews imagmaires m the Figaro ,
the article has not been reprinted in any volume by Gide

Journal 1942 115

would have taken advantage of them, as he did of the surpnsmg
sonorities of certain instruments m the Brandenburg Concertos for in-
stance But he did not do so, and there is a certain element of treason
m bringing out and emphasizing the latent harmonic or melodic possi-
bilities (as Gounod did for the first Prelude of the Well-Tempered
Clamchord) After this emotional humanization I should like to hear
again, in all the abstraction of a blueprint, that celestial edifice which,
it seems, can be brought closer to man only by taking it farther from
God

22 May

People then began to understand that certam actors m this enor-
mous drama played their role rather badly and had, after all, hardly
studied it at all Others, on the other hand, knew theirs perfectly and
played it up to such an extent that their role seemed to dominate the
whole play, so that the play was, as it were, thiown off balance For
the moment they alone could be heard The other actors seemed to im-
provise, and this was so bad that at moments the play became incom-
prehensible, as it sometimes happens for one of our classical tragedies
when, for some reason or other, an outstanding actor takes on a minor
role, which should remain secondary

X asks me “Don’t you understand that everything that is now tak-
ing place is but one more scene of the great drama of the class strug-
gle? 99 And this in the same tone as if he had said “Don’t you see
that all this is, after all, merely a "solar myth’?” For a long time people
thought they could explain m this way the Greek and all other my-
thologies Pierre Laurens used to call them scholars’ myths

2 June

“ Non erat exitus 99 This remark of St Augustine (quoted by Merezh-
kovski in his Calmn, page 28, note 51 ) is to serve as an epigraph to
the dialogue with Daedalus in my Vie de Thesee 27

Sidi-bou-Satd

As soon as I had realized that God was not yet but was becoming
and that his becoming depended on each one of us, a moral sense was
restored m me No impiety or presumption m this thought, for I was
convinced at one and the same time that God was achieved only by
man and through man, but that if man led to God, creation, in order
to lead to man, started from God, so that the divine had its place at
both ends, at the start and at the point of arrival, and that the start had

27 "There was no way out ” Gide did not use this quotation m the finished
version of his Theseus (1948)

114 Journal 1942

been solely in order to arrive at God This bivalvular thought reassured
me and I was unwilling to dissociate one fiom the other God creatmg
man m order to be cieated by him, God the end of man, chaos raised
up by God to the level of man and then man raising himself up to the
level of God To accept but one of them what fear, what obligation!
To accept but the other what self-satisfaction! It ceased to be a matter
of obeying God, but lather of instilling life into him, of falling m love
with him, of demanding him of oneself through love and of achieving
lnm through virtue

8 June

Science, to be sure, progresses only by everywhere substituting the
how for the why But however remote it may be, there is always a point
at which the two mtenogations meet and fuse To achieve man
billions of centuries would not have sufficed if chance alone had con-
tributed However anti-finalist one may or can be, one encounters here
something unacceptable, unthinkable, and the mind is forced to admit
a propensity, an inclination encouraging the groping, vague, and un-
conscious progress of matter toward life and consciousness, then,
through man, toward God

But how slow God is in becoming!

9 June

La Marsa 12 June

The time is approaching, and I feel it quite close, when I shall have
to say I must give up

The absurdity of all that is maddening It is enough to make one
believe that civilization, our Western civilization, will never recovei
from it The fact that that collaboration with Germany, so de-
sirable and so much desired by us at a time when the majority, when
public opinion, considered it impious (I mean m 1918), should now
be proposed to us, imposed on us by the very ones who once con-
sidered it unthinkable, that it should become for us a sign of defeat,
a mark of submission, abdication, and abjuration torments one's
conscience, or mine at least

I do not believe m Liberty (we are dying of its idolatrous cult) and
am ready to accept many a constraint, but I cannot bow before certain
iniquitous decisions, give even a tacit consent to certain abommations

Sidt-bou-Satd, 12 June

Utter abjection the last few days, but happy to think that it is due
solely to the sunstroke I got on the beach of La Marsa during an ex-

Journal 1942 115

citing game of chess with Mme Ragu Incapable of anything but smok-
ing and wallowing m dejection Strange country where, as soon as one
ceases to be too hot, one shivers Yet I have managed to read, with a
surprise that is not far from admiration, Dashiell Hammett’s Red Har-
vest (as a substitute for The Glass Key , so strongly recommended by
Malraux, but which I cannot find anywhere)

22 June

The trunks of these palm trees seem thick only because they are
enveloped m the truncated ends of their dead palms Excellent image
applicable to certain minds

I have ceased to push myself much to work, aware of writing noth-
ing worth while Are there still things for me to say? A work of art to
achieve? What can I possibly be good for henceforth? What still
hes m store for me?

My thoughts escape me like spaghetti slipping off both sides of the
fork

Some Arab children have made a plaything of a little bird They
are dragging it along on a string attached to one leg and are amused by
the useless efforts the bird occasionally makes to get away I hesitate
to take it away from them, but the half-dead bird cannot survive, the
only point would be to finish it off as quickly as possible, sparing it
a longer agony And I wonder what a sorry “image” of the world can
have been formed by this starling fallen from the nest, during this
brief span of suffering and jostling?

25 June

In a closet on the ground floor of the Reymonds’ villa I discover a
very well-set-up library I take from it a volume of Leon Bloy (sixth
and last volume of his Journal ) 28 and at the same time, by way of
contrast, Voltaire’s Dtcttonnaire philosophique , where I read at once,
with an often very keen satisfaction, a number of very good articles
Struck particularly by the one on Ravaillac, in dialogue form

1 July

*just when and from what moment onward will you deign to admit
that an adversary who constantly and m all domains reveals so flagrant
a superiority deserves to win out?”

28 The last volume of the Journal kept by the Catholic writer Leon
Bloy is entitled La Forte des humbles ( The Gate of the Humble ) and covers
the years 1915-17

1X 6 Journal 1942

"But then this is the end of freedom of thought
<e WiIl you be able to carry your liberalism to the point of allowing
me to think this freely'

"To think what?”

"That the path pointed out to us as the most desirable by good
Father X , for instance (whom I love and venerate), aiming to restore
m us a feeling for the sacred and to obtain from us an intellectual sub-
mission, without inquiry or verification, to truths recognized m ad-
vance and beyond discussion — that that path is as dangerous for the
mind as the path of Hitlerism, to which it is opposed, and perhaps even
more dangerous, and I shall shortly tell you why It is in the name of
those accepted and indisputable truths that the Church once con-
demned Galileo and that tomorrow Does the whole effort of a
Descartes, of a Montaigne even, have to be repeated? People had
ceased to realize just how and why that effort had been so important,
so emancipatory Despotism can be opposed only by another des-
potism, to be sure, and it is an easy matter for Father X to maintain
that it is better to submit to God than to a man, but, for my part, I
can see on both sides nothing but an abdication of the reason In order
to escape a very obvious danger, we hurl ourselves toward another,
more subtle and not yet obvious, but which tomorrow will only be
the more dreadful And thus it is that the seemingly most solidly
established civilizations collapse, m a way that soon ceases to be com-
prehensible As for ours, a few years earlier we should not have
thought it possible, and even today very rare are those who recognize
m this so-called recovery and pseudo-revival of France, m this return
to the past, m this 'withdrawal to one’s minima,’ as Banes used to say,
the most tragic result of our defeat, the true disaster almost uninten-
tional and half-unconscious relinquishment, by the best, of the posses-
sions acquired most slowly and with the greatest difficulty, the hardest
to appreciate and the rarest of all

"I admire maityrs I admire all those who are able to suffer and die,
whatever may be the religion for which they do so But even if you
were to convince me, dear Father X , that nothing can resist Hitlerism
but Faith, I should still see less spiritual danger m accepting despotism
than m that form of resistance, considering any subordination of the
mmd more harmful to the interests of the mind than a yielding to force,
since force at least m no way commits or compromises the mmd "

'"Yet if it is m the name of Faith, through Faith, that we succeed In
driving the enemy out of France

"I should indeed applaud the remedy by which we had overcome
a great malady* But subsequently how much time and vigilance and
effort should we need in order, as Samte-Beuve said, to "cure us of
the remedy’ ”?

Journal 1942

“7
6 July

Reread with the keenest interest the two Henry TV's and Henry V
of Shakespeare (read at Saint-Louis in Senegal, but I did not remem-
ber them sufficiently), The Way of the Lancer by Boleslavki (excel-
lently translated, it seems to me), I have on my table the Memoir es of
Roederer 29 and a typescript of Simenon’s Pedigree, plus a huge novel
m manuscript by Amrouche’s sister I should like, however, not to leave
Shakespeare before having read also the fifteen acts of Henry VI and
Richard II, with which I should have begun

10 July

This morning, awakening m a thick fog Sidi-bou-Said is bathed m
a fluid, nacreous, sedative milk that is almost cool, a contrast to the
heaviness of the last few days One might have thought one was m
the Congo I went out mto the garden, the leaves, withered by yes-
terday’s sirocco, are breathing agam and dripping Only the fore-
ground is visible a few cypresses and the white walls of the nearest
Arab houses, which seem to melt m that silvery vapor Everything is
soft The imagination plunges mto space and reconstructs with com-
plete liberty a marvelous landscape, as it does with feminine veils

Around nme o’clock the fog burns off, reality emerges, everything
becomes sharp and hard Heat settles down, the sun reigns supreme,
and in the vast, reclaimed sky nothing but an ugly broad band, black-
ish and horizontal and looking like a half-erased line in a charcoal
drawing, spread over the entire breadth of the sky, soils the azure
purity This is the smoke from the electric power-house at La Goulette,
which is now burning alfa for want of other fuel It encumbers the sky
with its lament

12 July

The most fragile part of me, and the one that has aged most, is my
voice, that voice which even about ten years ago was still strong,
supple, modulated — that is, capable of moving from the grave to the
sharp as I wished — a voice over which I had complete mastery and
could play as an actor does, which I had, moreover, greatly exercised
through frequent readings to a small, family audience and the habit I
had adopted of reciting poetry while walking Above all, it was tuned
just right Now my ear alone is in tune, consequently I have ceased to
smg save m thought

29 This short title could refer either to the Louts XII and Frangots I, or
Memoirs for Use m Writing a New History of Thetr Reigns, or to the actual
recollections of the same author Concerning Bonaparte Journal of Count
P L Roederer

n8

Journal 1942

16 July

I ought never to travel without a Montaigne If I had the Essats at
hand, I should look up the remark he makes about La Boetie “I have
lived more negligently” (smce he left me) Jean Lambert, m his article
on Schlumberger ( Fontaine , number 21), attributes it to St Augustine
"I had lost the witness of my life, 9 he presumably said in The Con -
fes$ion$ 9 "and I feared that I might not live so well 99 It may be that
this remark is there, but is it not the precise translation of these words
that I read in the letters of Pliny the Younger (Letter XII, to Cales-
tnus Tiro) “Amm vitae meae testem Vereor ne negligentim
vivani ”? That sentence, which charms us and makes us reflect, was
perhaps but a commonplace m antiquity, one of those banal remarks
that were used for each bereavement? 30

21 July

Their facile assurance disconcerts and pams me, whereas these
words of Montaigne (I, 26) comfort me "None but fools are certain
and resolute” And we shall see the most obstinate of today become
just as certain and resolute m the other direction, unaware even that
they have changed, if only the wind that sways them happens to
change

27 July

I am givmg the best of my time to the translation of Hamlet Noth-
ing but this work can take my mind off our anguish Those who are
satisfied today with this wretched "recovery” of France never realized
what constituted her greatness of yesterday

1 August

Yesterday my heart was affected as a result of a novocain injection
intended to permit the rather painful extraction of the root of a molar
Good reason to try to keep myself from smoking! After a good night I
feel as if still alive An excellent letter from Roger Martin du Gard
makes me feel altogether myself again

S August

I read in Samte-Beuve “de les sonder , quoi qu ? ils en aient ” (Cam-
enes du lundi , Vol III, p 276 ) 31

80 Pliny says of the death of an old friend, Corelhus Rufus "I have in-
deed lost the witness, guide, and teacher of my life To sum up I shall say
what I said to my companion Calvisius when my grief was fresh 1 am
afraid I shall live more carelessly now 9 99 ( Letters ; I, 12 )

81 Gide is probably thinking of the naivete of saying "to probe them,
whatever they may say of it ”

Journal 1942 1x9

Theo R , morning and evening, for more than an hour each time,
leans over each of the plants m his garden with the look of concentra-
tion of a man to whom great secrets are bemg told m a language that
iie doesn’t understand very well

8 August

This morning a card from Saucier to tell me that a client is offering
him two hundred thousand francs for the manuscript of St le gram ne
meurt, which I sold to B for forty-five thousand before leaving Nice
I make an effort to consider this very funny

“It required all the lucidity and the painful relentlessness of our
epoch to ” writes Jouve

That illusion that one’s own epoch (our epoch) judges more
soundly, establishes its roll of honor more fairly than the preceding
ones

Sidt-bou-Said , I September
Finished the translation of Hamlet yesterday As much as twenty
years ago I had translated the first act (La Tortue brought out a very
fine edition of it), which all alone caused me more trouble than the
five acts of Antony and Cleopatra I thought I had forever forsaken
such exhausting labor I returned to it at the request of Jean-Louis
Barrault with an adolescent’s zeal and an old man’s patient equanim-
ity For almost three months I have devoted from six to eight hours a
day to it and taken relaxation from it only to put into shape for the
Figaro my “Advice m regard to Phedre 99 (then in regard to Iphig4me)

I should certainly not have persevered if my version had not seemed to
me greatly superior to all die earlier ones, and especially much more
adapted to the stage and to delivery by actors I had within reach, not
so much to help as to encourage me, the translations by F -V Hugo,
Schwob, Pourtal&s, and Copeau This last one alone seems to show
some regard for French, all of them sacrifice rhythm, lyrical power,
cadence, and beauty to mere exactitude I believe that, in this regard,
the translations of the last century were preferable

The great advantage of this work I could tackle it at any time, al-
ways ready for this type of effort, which I was inclined to prolong for
three or four hours at a time Mme Theo urges me vigorously, and with
the best arguments in the world, to give henceforth my best attention
to my Journal She is doubtless right, but the quality of this journal
comes precisely from the fact that I write m it only in answer to some
call and urged on by a sort of inner necessity For some time now I
have felt no need to open it again and have lost sight of myself I be-
come aware again how hard it is to reinterest oneself in something one

120

Journal 1942

has abandoned All my thoughts are elusive, for some time I have been
living and feeling only through sympathy, at least my affective facul-
ties are as keen as m the best period of my youth

Solitude is bearable only with God

Dr Misserey, who, a prisoner himself since Dunkerque, is treating
Russian wounded m a German Oflag, writes me (m pencil) a touch-
mg postcard (the third I have received from him) He quotes a sen-
tence of Proust ( Les Plaisirs et les jours 32 ) that, he says, seems to have
been written for him “And then I realized that never could Noah see
the world so clearly as from the ark, though it was closed and the earth
was dark ” A remarkable sentence, indeed, despite its three errors m
French m seven words 33 Only the blmd do not notice the night, there
are many m France

September

Still at Sidi-bou-Said Thanks to the charming hosts who are lodging
me, I find rest, comfort, calm, and salvation here From the terrace of
the villa I watch the plain as it swoons Exhausting heat, which I am
ashamed to endure so badly And, for the first time in my life, probably,
I am makmg the acquamtance of what is called nostalgia I think of
the mysterious forest interior at La Roque m which the child I was
could not venture without trembling, of the edges of the pond thick
with flowering plants, of the evening mists over the little stream I
think of the beech grove at Cuverville, of the great autumn winds
carrying away the russet leaves, of the rooks’ call, of the evening medi-
tation beside the fire in the calm house on its way to sleep Every-
thing I owe to Em comes to mind and I have been thinking constantly
of her for several days with regret and remorse for havmg so often and
so greatly been m arrears with her How often I must have seemed to
her harsh and insensitive* How ill I corresponded to what she had a
right to expect of me! For a smile from her today, I believe I should
forsake life and this world in which I could not overtake her

IS September

I am rereading Aurelta 34 with a great effort of attention and a de-
sire to accept it Happy to correct the impression of disappomtment

32 Pleasures and Days , a youthful work of Proust’s, first published m
1896

85 Gide is referring to “malgre quelle fut close et qu’il fit nuit sur la
terre,” for malgrd que is a popular variant of the correct quoique or bien
que and the verbs should be in the imperfect subjunctive f&t and fit

84 A short poetic novel by Gerard de Nerval

121

Journal 1942

and boredom that this poetic tale had given me on first readmg and
each time I had gone back to it Happy to admit that Chapter v in
particular reveals a complete perfection, a rare and subtle quality, and
when one lets oneself go and falls m with it, it is qmte moving A tone
previously unheard m our literature, which even Baudelaire but rarely
approached and to which French ears were not to open, and could
not open, until much later

16 September

Every night (or almost) I have been dreaming of her, for some
time now And always, m each dream, I see some obstacle, often petty
and absurd, rise up between her and me to separate us, I lose her, I set
out m search of her, and the whole dream is but the development of a
long adventure m pursuit of her I have related one of those dreams
m this notebook, I believe, and I don’t know why I chose that one
among so many 35

Ah, it is better that you are not here* (I am constantly telling
myself this) You would have had to suffer too much from the degrada-
tion of France

Finished with great difficulty and great effort my rereadmg of
Aurelia One more beautiful page close to the end (“Bosquets em-
baumes de Paphos ”), but one has to wade through such tiresome
rubbish to reach it! Engaging, disturbing figure of Nerval, but I
cannot succeed m making of him the great poet that Thierry Mauhner
sees in him But Maulnier is making sport of us just as when he magni-
fies Maurice Sceve to excess 36

“When he used a word,” John Dover Wilson says of Shakespeare an
his excellent introduction to Hamlet , “all possible meanings of it were
commonly present to his mind, so that it was like a musical chord
which might be resolved m whatever fashion or direction he pleased ” 87
This is what constitutes the force of his poetic incantation and this is
what the translator must make a point of preserving He must con-
stantly fear, by being too precise, to limit the flight of the imagination

The human soul (and why fear using this word to designate that
complex of emotions, tendencies, susceptibilities jomed together by a
bond that is perhaps merely physiological) has shadowy, changing, m-

85 See pp 69-70.

86 In his highly personal anthology entitled Introduction to French
Poetry (1939), Thierry Mauhner devotes twice as much space to Nerval as
he does to Lamartine or Vigny and more than to Hugo, just as he gives
more extracts from the Renaissance poet Maurice Sceve than from his better-
known contemporaries Ronsard and du Bellay

87 The quotation is given in English in the original

122

Journal 1942

tangible contours, constantly modified and subject to modification ac-
cording to circumstances, climates, seasons, and all influences, so that
the tensest and most vigilant will has great trouble maintaining m it a
semblance of cohesion In itself already sufficiently rebellious to de-
scription and analysis without that confusion which language con-
tributes by using the same word, ‘love,” to designate two tendencies
of such different nature that they are opposed Around this word and
by reason of its misuse there has grown up a sort of false mystery,
which would be rendered ridiculous if language turned to another
word to signify love as charity rather than the one used for love as
concupiscence, for desire and for the gift But such lexical poverty is
itself revelatory, it reveals that slipping from one to the other is al-
ways possible But no matter, many a problem in this domain seems
psychological and is artificially created by an improper use of words
It would not be useless to study the vocabulary of other languages,
which perhaps do not suffer, m this regard, fiom the same poverty as
does French

Turns , 24 September

As soon as my mind is not busy with a definite piece of work, it
returns to its anguish Since the translation of Hamlet was finished, I
have been unable to get away from useless reflection on the disaster
I thought I was not very “patriotic”, indeed, it is not so much from the
defeat that I am suffering as from the sagging and warping of the
virtues that characterized the French, from the unconscious approval
of falsehood and the retreat of all integrity Words themselves are
divorced from their meanings, and intellectual groupings are based
solely on misapprehensions Every voice of justice is gagged and the
right to think freely is granted only on condition that one refrain from
speaking “Solely the useful will be considered to be true”, this is the
doctrine of Barres, it dishonors everything, even religion

27 September

What France can and must contribute to humanity is the leaven
that makes the dough rise That is her role, but Germany refuses to let
her play it

Nations, as much as individuals, grow stupid through laziness
There is no more harmful doctrine than that of the least effort That
sort of ideal which invites things to come to us instead of our going to
them disregards the “mres acqumt eundo ”, 38 and, m this regard at
least, I beheve the rule of conduct of Protestant nations to be more
virilizing than that of the Catholic nations, for it encourages effort
more

38 “It gams strength in its course ” from Virgil JEneid, IV, 175

Journal 1942

12 3

28 September

So geht

Der Mensch zu Ende — und die einzige
Aus beute , die tmr aus dem Kampf des Lebens
Wegtragen, 1 st die Einsicht tn des Ntchts
Und herzhchen Verachiung alles dessen
Was uns erhahen schien und wunschenswert 39
No, these last words of Talbot in Schillers Die Jungfrau von
Orleans will not be my final words Probably it will not be granted me
to witness the restoration of moral values for which it would have been
such a joy to live, but m that restoration I believe firmly

I cannot succeed in admiring that drama, as artificial as those of
Hugo and even in its slightest details, without real depth, without
meaning Even the verse is harsh and the psychological motives are
conventional or arbitrary One does not feel for a moment that any
inner need prompted Schiller to write it (such as one feels m Don
Carlos or Wilhelm Tell ) It is a well-done exercise (and not even very
well done) on a subject that seems to him especially dramatic That
Joan-Walkyne, a “scourge of God” vowing to exterminate all the Eng-
lish m France, breaking faith with herself as soon as she becomes merci-
ful, and becoming merciful only through the influence of love, then
falling to her knees before Agnes Sorel and exclaiming
Du hist die Heihgel Du bist die Remel 40
How painful and ridiculous! Unacceptable Not the slightest
leal feeling m all this

29 September

Finished reading Die Jungfrau The end is even more absurd than
all the rest Schiller s only excuse is the ignorance still prevailing m his
time as to the very documents of the great trial For fear of domg him
an injustice and underestimating him, I want to reread Don Carlos ,
which is incomparably better, if my recollection of it is exact But how
great Goethe seems beside Schiller! How heavy with meaning the
least of his works! Each is born of a need, an inner prompting Schil-
lers Die Jungfrau is unmeamngful and nothing in it seems motivated

39 Thus

Man goes to death — and the only
Sooty which we carry out of the battle of Itfe
Is the insight into its utter valuelessness
And hearty scorn of all that seemed to us
Lofty and desirable

*° “Thou art the holy one! Thou art the pure oneP

124 Journal 1942

save by a childish desire for scenic effect (I also want to read Kleist’s
Penthesilea )

1 October

Beside which Shaw's Saint Joan (which I am rereading with very
great satisfaction) seems a marvel of intelligence, of appositeness, and
of ingenuity

6 October

As a result of my article on Iphigeme in the Figaro for 30 August, I
have received from M K , a magistrate m Pau, a long letter from
which I want to copy some passages here, for I believe them to be
particularly illustrative of a state of mind that is tending to spread,
these are the last sentences of the letter

“The writer is responsible for the consequences of his writings
Your proposition 41 is, in my opinion, most pernicious 42 This is why
I have taken the liberty of writing you this letter I have fought to save
my country 43 Why do you then take the liberty of poisoning it with
such false maxims 44 interspersed amid so accurate and so captivatmg
a criticism? You haven't the right to act like this at such a moment
when the France of St Louis needs her lights m order to remain
worthy of her tradition You less than anyone else, to whom has been
given the gift of style, which places you above all the Immortals of the
moment, except the marshal, who is the magnificent servant of the
Word "

What can I reply to that? Cedant rationes mentis vulnertbus
corporis 46

7 October

But this morning a letter from Mme Theo containing this sentence
“As for me, I was quite sure that your sentence in the article on
Iphigeme would draw forth some indignant reply 5>

41 It is a question of this sentence from my article, “which I was quite
amazed to read/' says M K “The Christian soul refers back to and relies
on God, whereas the pagan soul puts its trust and finds support only m
itself" [A]

42 Hanged if I should have suspected it! [A ]

48 He says elsewhere “A hero of Verdun is writing this, who escaped
with a blighty!” [A ]

44 What M K. finds to be false in my proposition, as he explained above,
is that "one owes one's blood solely to God, and if one sheds it apparently
m another cause, one offers it to him alone, this is the sole means of en-
nobling the sacrifice ” Oh, if you wish [A ]

48 “Let the mind's reasons yield to the body's wounds *

Journal 1942 125

Toumier gives me Farrere’s book V Homme seul , 46 a novel with
real characters under fictitious names I have read so far but thirty
pages of it, it is very bad The portrait it gives of Pierre Louys is not
at all exact To attribute to Louys “the appearance of an athlete”*
Come now* Louys had a rare elegance in his gestures, his silhouette,
his bearing, but had also a sickly look He was soft like a marshmallow,
his hand melted m yours His forehead and eyes were instinct with a
sort of gemus, which compensated for his somewhat too foppish look
He used to stammer at the slightest emotion — that is to say, often — m
a turmoil for nothing at all and calm only at rare intervals

I go on for some twenty pages more and then the book falls from
my hands

9 October

Let myself be kept for dinner last night by Jean Amrouche after a
fine game of chess His friend Jules Roy, the very likable aviator, come
m from Setif, mvited us as his guests After the meal we went to the
Halfahomne, which was especially lively on the next to last evenmg
of Ramadan This morning got up at five thirty because of Suzy’s leav-
ing When I came m last night I had found a short letter from her,
since she didn't expect to see me again — such a nice letter that I im-
mediately made up my mind to kiss Suzy good-by After having got
up, unable to go to sleep agam and not feeling like doing so, I went
out Radiant morning I had taken with me the first volume of the
Histovre du peuple dTsrael , which I had begun reading, but did not
open it Tried m vam to call to mmd the whole of Baudelaire's Cre-
puscule du matin 47 Contemplated at length a group of poverty-stricken
children, half covered with sordid rags, obviously homeless They were
lying under a portico, one across another, trying to sleep, but tormented
by flies and probably devoured by vermin, occasionally scratching
themselves furiously under then tatters Turns is full of a poverty that
is beyond help Homeless children seemingly even much more lamen-
table than the “besprizornis” of Sebastopol, who at least seem lively
and gay, probably now become valiant soldiers of the Red army In-
souciance of that hopeless youth, stuff of which the “social question” is
made Dream of a society that would not allow of any outcasts

There are those who would like to ameliorate men and there are
those who hold that that cannot be done without first ameliorating the
conditions of their life But it soon appears that one cannot be divorced
from the other, and you don't know where to begin Some days hu-

46 Man Alone

47 “Morning Twilight” is one of the poems of The Flowers of Evil, The
fftstory of the People of Israel is by Renan

126 Journal 1942

mamty strikes me as so miserable that the happiness of a few seems
impious

10 October

I puzzled out Penthestlea, cursorily at first, now I go back to it,
slowly tasting each of its splendid lines one after another with delight
and considerable profit Never before, it seems to me, as much as m
Kleist (not even m Holderhn), had I enjoyed the poetic possibilities
of German syntax, with its delays, its turns backward, its sudden drops
At times I think of Malherbe, which is most surpnsmg

Dr Ragu lends me a book on Tiberius (translated from the Ger-
man) which he declares to be a masterpiece and which, he says, "reads
like a novel”, but I cannot get interested m it The mere statement of
events tires me In that vast tangle of the past why choose this rather
than that? The most obvious constantly obscures the most important
One seeks a succession, a sequence of facts, a causality that is not ac-
cidental or illusory And, whatever I am told, I always think irresistibly
that it didn’t take place like that I am tempted to say of all realms of
human knowledge, the one that interests me least is History

As for collaboration with Germany, nothing would have been more
desirable, and for each of the two countries, each one having exactly
what the other most lacked But today events have made it so that the
“Gaullist” elements greatly predominate in France, in number and
even more m quality This involves, m my case at least, no discredit
for the marshal, on the contrary, he seems to me to be playing as best
he can a difficult game, and the future will perhaps prove that even
at the moment of the armistice he got out of it with the least prejudice
to France (if mdeed an event ever proves anything) I gladly subscribe
to these remarks from the letter I received yesterday from Roger M
du G "I confess to bemg very susceptible to the style and accent of
his speeches It is said that they are written for him, now B , now G ,
now another are cited Nonsense! Each of his messages has an
authentic rmg that belongs mdeed to the same man and that generally
goes rather straight to my heart His very mistakes are not lacking m
either straightforwardness or natural nobility 48 It will require perspec-
tive to throw light on the secrets of the P Stain enigma , and one of my
great regrets is that I shall die without knowing ” Knowing what?
Whether Petam was not, at heart, the most "Gaullist” of us all, but it
was important above all not to let this be seen

48 Need I add today (1949) that this opinion, which I then shared with
my friend, we could neither of us keep for long? [A ]

Journal 1942 127

13 October

One catches cold with a temperature of seventy-seven after days
and nights spent m a Turkish batk I know I shall not escape

The slow accumulation of very small, modest efforts I recall the
wonderful cry of the man m Dante’s Hell (I was not yet twenty when
I heard it for the first time, and what a lesson I drew from it for a long
time thereafter! )

Were I but carrying so light a load
That m a hundred years 1 gained an inch ,

Already had I set out on the road 49

Real old age would be giving up hope of progress I am not made tot
contemplative stagnation and enjoy only effort

I am reading the Penthesilea very slowly, letting nothing pass with-
out understanding and feeling it completely, with indescribable rap-
ture Kleist makes wonderful use of German syntax, and this makes it
possible to appreciate its resources, its subtle license, its suppleness
The fine tangle of the sentence, in which he frolics, remains almost im-
possible in French, where the function of umnflected words is most
often indicated only by their position Enough to form two very dif-
ferent nations

Fmished my reading of the first volume of Renan’s Histoire du peu -
pie (T Israel ( Five genitives m succession, O Flaubert^ ) Then made an-
other vam effort to try to penetrate Bergson’s thought, hard at Matter e
et mimoire for five days without succeeding in understanding or really
getting mterested

Such important events that it seems as if we are on the threshold of
a new History What is needed is a humanity worthy of taking place
m it The world can be saved only by a few

15 October

Simple, cordial, and charming dinner at the Amrouches’ (How rare
it is that one can be equally the friend of husband and wife!) After
which Jean Amrouche gets even with me for the game of chess I had
won before dinn er On getting home, to finish off a good day, a few
excellent chapters of Rabelais Quite amused to find m the fifth book
of Pantagmel , Chapter xlvi, the English expression "will he take a
barr of the dog that bit him?’’ 60 which became with us tc reprendre du
poll de la bite* and soon took on a very different meaning

» Inferno, XXX, 82-4 [A]
50 Quoted in French

128

Journal 1942

16 October

Can one speak of “bad taste* except in a middle-class way? But
how can one fail to find that the exaggerated sublime of Scene xv of
Penthesilea , the big dialogue of explanation between Achilles and the
Queen of the Amazons, borders on ridicule m a very painful manner?
How can one fail to agree with Goethe that Penthesilea’s declarations
have a comic quality “worthy of a Neapolitan stage*? One irresistibly
shares m the laughter that must shake the audience at that point if the
play is ever given A pity that the high point of the drama is so friable,
even the quality of the poetry is affected and one is almost amazed,
at that moment, at having been able to admire the rest so much
“Warum lachelst du?”

<e Wer ? Ich ?’

* Mich dunkt , du lachelst , Lieber * 51
Good heavens! This is not surprising And Kleist was well aware of
it himself when he makes Achilles say

Demer Schone

Ich war zerstreut Vergib Ich dachte eben ,

Ob du mir am dem Monde mederstiegst ? 62

17 October

No less ridiculous, no less vulgar m their comic quality, the panting
scenes that follow

“Ich Kann mcht glauben ”

“Es spricht von der Dardanerburg ”

“Was?”

“WasF

“Mich dunkt , du sagest was *

“Ich?’

“Du!”

“ Ich sagte .

Es spricht von der Dardanerburg ” 58

51 “Why art thou smiling, F

w ir

“It seems to me, dear one, that thou art smiling *

82 “About thy beauty

“1 was distrait Forgive I was just wondering
Whether thou hast descended to me from the moon ”

This passage follows directly on the preceding one and is spoken by Achilles
58 “I cannot beheve U ”

“He is speaking of the Citadel of the Dardantans ”

“Wharf”

“Wharf*

Journal 1942 129

That is unspeakably bad And it couldn't be good with such a false
start Oh, how disagreeable is that treachery of Penthesilea! And dis-
agreeable that idea of introducing elephants and dogs into that combat
with Achilles, which was to be “single-handed”!

O du 9

Von der mem Herz auf Knten niederfallt,

Wie ruhrest du micht 54

Not me I hate the spasmodic “for in the very torrent, tempest, and
as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a
temperance that may give it smoothness,” said Hamlet And what a
flabbergasting way of killing oneself by striking oneself with a meta-
phor! It is enough to make me wonder now whether I did not

perhaps exaggerate the beauty, which seemed to me so great, of the
first part of the drama I want to reread it at once

18 October

That Kleist was unable to perfect his work, that it crushed him, now
seems obvious to me But it would be indecorous, impious to smile at
this His experience seems to me comparable to Nietzsche s, and even
more tragic, for with Nietzsche one cannot speak of a failure All the
defects of Penthesilea , all its shortcomings, are the effect of that mner
drama which they eloquently reveal, and if it were better perfected,
that work would be less revelatory, less worthy of moving us But what
moves us, toward the end, is less the beauty of the work than the bank-
ruptcy of the author

Chacha makes me some verbena tea When she brings it to me, I
ask her “Has it steeped sufficiently?” And Chacha replies “Yes, be-
cause over the gas it's very fast” Never would a man make such a
reply Specifically feminine illogicality

19 October

And this morning, m order to understand if possible the working of
her mind, I ask Chacha to explain her remark of last night, but with
all the respect I owe to her advanced age It seems clear to me that a

“It seems to me thou saidst something 99

“ 3W ”

“1 said

He is speaking of the Citadel of the Dar damans ”

The speakers m this dialogue are Ulysses and Achilles
s* *0 thou.

Before whom my heart falls on its knees ,

How thou touchest meP

130 Journal 1942

confusion has got fixed in her mind the short time the water took to
boil leading to the rest, endowing the water with a sort of attribute of
speed None of this reasoned out at all, of course, m an uncivilized
way

At this time when everything is rationed, she wastes gas m an odd
way, putting the water on to boil for no reason at all, then saying,
when she puts it back on the fire "Oh, it will boil fast, it's already been
heating for a half -hour!”

The Siamese cat, fed almost exclusively on fish m peacetime, now
is quite willing to eat bread Chacha tells me so this morning "He
eats anythmg now!” Then, as if saying "What a disaster!” she adds
"Ah, he certainly can be said to choose the right time!”

Twenty times a day, about anything or anyone "What a poison!”
And about the events of the war "Ah, all thats very complicated!” I
should have said at the outset that she comes from Martinique

19 October

Cory don remains m my opinion the most important of my books,
but it is also the one with which I find the most fault The least well
done is the one it was most important to do well I was probably ill
advised to treat ironically such serious questions, which are generally
handled as a subject of reprobation or of joking If I went back to them,
people would not fail to think I am obsessed by them People prefer
to envelop them m silence as if they played but a negligible role m
society and as if the number of individuals tormented by such ques-
tions were negligible in society And yet when I began to write my
book, I thought that number to be much smaller than it eventually ap-
peared to be and than it is in reality, smaller, however, m France than
m many other countries I came to Jaiow later, for probably in no other
country (with the exception of Spam) do the cult of Woman, the
religion of Love, and a certain tradition of amorous intercourse so
much dominate manners or so servilely influence the way of life I
am obviously not speaking here of the cult of woman m its profoundly
respectable aspect, nor of noble love, but of debasing love that sacri-
fices the best m man to skirts and the alcove The very ones who shrug
their shoulders when faced with such questions are those who pro-
claim that Love is the most important thing in life and consider it
natural that a man should subordinate his career to it They are nat-
urally thinking of love as desire and of sensual pleasure, and m their
eyes desire is king But, in their opinion, that desire loses all value and
does not deserve to be taken into consideration the moment it ceases
to be m harmony with, and similar to, theirs They are very sure of
themselves, having Opinion on their side

Yet I believe I said in that book just about everything I had to say

Journal 1942 131

on this most important subject that had not been said before me, but
I reproach myself with not having said it as I should have None the
less, certain attentive minds will manage to discover it there later on

22 October

I thought I already knew La Femme de trente ans 55 Did Balzac
ever write anything worse? It’s staggering ( Marquise d’Aiglemont and
Charles de Vandenesse ) Especially the story of the privateer Chapter
v, "The Two Encounters *

I then reread Une Fille cFEve 56 (Mme Felix de Vandenesse and
Raoul Nathan), in which, amid much claptrap, a few excellent scenes
Then La Femme abandonnSe 57 (Mme de Beauseant and the hand-
some Gaston de Nueil) Balzac's case is one of the most extraordinary,
one of the most inexplicable, m our liter atuie, m all literatures

28 October

Have I ever known such a long unbroken succession of fine days?
Certain mornings are so gloriously pure that one doesn't know what to
do with them A settmg for the full blossoming of happiness How re-
spond to such a solicitation? One would like to invent a God, so full is
one’s heart of adoration Can it be that in such weather men are killing
one another anywhere m the world? Any thought that is not full of
love seems impious

6 November

With each cold cured (I am writing this after a week of grippe),
with each car or bicycle avoided, I say to myself well, I have escaped
this time!

I note this fine example of cacography in an article by Henry Bataille
on Lucien Muhlfeld ( Renaissance latvne, 15 December 1902) "Mys-
terious retaliation for the intellectuals whose fate here below as it were
eternally on the go seems implacable, and why the bitter desire eventu-
ally to arrest their fugacity somewhere, sounds perhaps in heaven the
punishment of eternal rest ” And he adds "I recall an evening with
Rodenbach when we chatted about this ” How wonderful it must have
been!

The Berlin communique of 6 November ends with this admirable
sentence "The command of the Axis armored forces can obviously not

55 AWoman of Thirty

56 A Daughter of Eve

67 The Forsaken Woman,

Journal 1942

everywhere prevent local successes on the part of British tanks, but it
is executing a plan conditioned by present enemy activity and is ab-
solutely free m its decisions 59

12 November

Occupation of the French “free zone 59 by Germany and of North
Africa by the U S A Events deprive me of any desire to say any-
thing Always tempted to think that it has no importance basically and
does not interest me, even were I to lose my head thereby

14 November

The very small number of mistakes through mconsistency in the
Comedie humame makes one enjoy noting them Marsay speaks of the
"handsome blue eyes 55 of Savmien de Portenduere (p 359 of Ursule
Mirouet) and two pages later in a letter of fimilie de Kergarouet refer-
ence is made to the "sparkle 55 of "his handsome black eyes 55

Certain dialogues m Ursule Mirouet seem to me rather better than
those m Eugenie Grandet, and, after all, I am rewarded for my per-
severance It is one of the most revelatory "scenes 55 m the Comedie
humame and certamly I missed having lead it Immediately after-
ward I tackle Modeste Mignon, one of the few Balzacs still left me to
read for the first time

15 November

Invitation to Montherlant's Jeunes Filles 68 "I am sure you have
never encountered that intellectual windfall the secrets of a young
girh 55 Modeste writes to Canalis-Costals ( Letter VII ) "She asks of you
a purely moral and mysterious union There J Come to her heart when
you are unhappy, hurt, tired 55 Etc

Occasionally staggering sentences "The wmd of a mysterious will
hurled me toward you as a storm sweeps a rosebush to the heart of
a majestic willow 55 But none the less Modeste Mignon is remarkable,
one of the best Dialogues often excellent, or almost

No more letters to write Useless they would not arrive What an
intellectual rest* Since my travels in the Congo I had not enjoyed such
tranquillity I even wonder if that sort of serenity which results from
this is not greater than the anxiety of being without news of all those
who are dear to me

58 Montherlant's novel in four volumes (1936-9), Les Jeunes F tiles
(translated as Pity for Women and Costals and the Hippogriff), recounts the
life of the writer Costals, harassed by feminine admirers jand loving coj>
respondents, Canalis figures in Balzac's Modeste Mignon,

Journal 1942

Read Le Contrat de manage , reread Etude de femme , Autre Etude
de femme, Ulnterdiction (one of the best and one that lends itself to
reading aloud, as I had learned from experience at Cuverville) Les
Comddiens sans le savoir, odd, but vulgarly mediocre 59

22 November

In Flaubert’s Samt-Juhen T Hospitaller, 60 I read “The wall of the
valley was too high to climb it ” Unacceptable

26 November

Large posters cover the walls of Tunis They inform the popula-
tion that, invaded in cowardly fashion by the Anglo-Saxon pirates and
incapable of defendmg herself, North Africa must gratefully welcome
the Axis troops that have come generously to offer to defend her

If the latter are victorious, tins is the version of History that will
prevail

Completely gripped by Balzac agam His Petits Bourgeois 61 (un-
finished, alasl), of which no one ever speaks, is amazmg "Avoir lieu
de ” 62 I can accept this expression only when impersonal “J’ai
lieu de ” shocks me even though Littre seems to accept it

I read m Les Employes “fax tout lieu de penser que le succes
couronnera vos esperances * 68 But Balzac makes a character say this
and would perhaps not have written it when speaking m his own
name, for, after all, he writes very well and Les Employes has an ex-
cellent style

28 November

Yesterday very pleasant lunch at the Ragus’, whom I always en-
joy seeing, with the young Boutelleau couple, Jean Tourmer, and Mme
Sparrow

The events of Toulon are being commented upon and, as almost
always, they allow of very different interpretations 64 Dr Ragu, in bet-
ter form than ever, judges them very severely To him that heroic seut-

ss These are all works by Balzac The Marriage Contract , A Study of
Woman , Another Study of Woman , The Commission in Lunacy (see The
Journals of Andri Gide, Vol III, p 270), and The Unconscious Comedians

69 The Legend of St Julian the Hospitaler , one of Flaubert’s Trois
Contes (Three Tales )

61 The Lesser Bourgeoisie

62 “To have reason for

m “I have every reason to think that the outcome will fulfill your hopes ”

64 The French fleet in the harbor of Toulon was scuttled on 27 Novem-
ber 1942

134 Journal 1942

tlrng of our fleet seems comparable to the suicide of a disloyal em-
ployee cornered by recognition of his crime, escaping punishment and
taking refuge in death an absurd act resultmg from an original no-
torious blunder I suspect that this interpretation must likewise be
Roger Martin du Gard s This action on the part of the officers of the
French Navy explams their attitude at Mers-el-Kebir an order was
given them, doubtless, to sink their ships rather than to let them
be of use either to the English or to the Germans But this amounted
to setting one’s point of honor above the very interests of the country
and I can easily see why reason protests against this Despite every-
thing, this shows a preference for oneself over the cause, and this leaves
the conscience ill at ease One wonders, without being able to ap-
prove In the dreadful dilemma they had got into, the only choice
they had was between suicide and slavery No loophole possible, no
means of escaping As soon as our fleet failed to decide at once m favor
of keeping up the fight, it became useless or dishonored Accepting
the conditions of the armistice was tantamount to a delayed scuttling
Alongside the English, that fleet might have rendered very great serv-
ices, now it serves merely as an example of the evils of obedience when
personal conscience ceases to acquiesce m the commands received

30 November

The German and Italian forces are occupying Tunis In the streets
a great bustle of trucks, tanks, armored cars, and A A guns From day
to day new ships are unloading new munitions and troops The Amer-
icans, whose entry mto the city was already announced to take place
yesterday, are caught somewhere, not far from Tunis to be sure, but I
fancy they will encounter se nous resistance, which they have given
time to organize Probably the Axis forces are caught here as m a
trap, but when surrounded, they can be expected to struggle for some
time before surrendering, and I cannot share the optimism of my
friends Probably the Americans are waiting for air reinforcements to
give them a crushing numerical superiority before beginning the battle
and are first busy with subjugating Bizerte It is asserted that the
Germans are in great disorder, but I am very suspicious of that tend-
ency of certain people to see their wishes as if already realized

1 December

Ernst Junger s book on the war of 1914, Storm of Steel™ is mcon-
trovertibly the finest war book that I have read, utter good faith,

e5 Gide gives the title m French as he does for the second book, but the
first one is obviously In Stahlgewittern Aus dem Tagebuch ernes Siosstrupp -
fuhrers , which was translated mto English in 1929 as Storm of Steel From
the Diary of a Storm-Troop Officer on the Western Front

Journal 1942 135

veracity, and fairness I greatly regret not having yet read it (and the
other one that I was reading at Sidi-bou-Said Gardens and Roads 66 )
before having received his visit at rue Vaneau (which is mentioned in
the latter book) I should have spoken to him quite differently

I finish Les Employes It is to such books of the Comedie humatne ,
to such "Studies” of Balzac, that I give my most unqualified admira-
tion There it is (and m Les Petits Bourgeois) that he hits his stride
and masters his subject most effectively In Les Secrets de la pnncesse
de Cadignan* 7 which I reread next, he is striving toward graces and
subtleties that are not natural to him He succeeds best in the portrayal
of wingless creatures and their modest crawling on the ground, that
is where he is incomparable, superior even to Gogol To be sure, it re-
quires great patience to read Les Employes through to the end, but
the patience is fully rewarded

2 December

I am rereading with amusement, but little additional profit, Brune-
ti&re’s book on Balzac 68 Already I had assimilated everything valuable
m it Bruneti&re remmds me of Dmdiki’s 69 manner of progressing,
ultra-cautious His thoughts, tightly tied together, tie him down He
advances in his own footsteps The views he maintains are not al-
ways quite right, but they are always very solidly founded Dare one
say even the more solidly founded, the less right they are?

S December

Heard on the radio last night, with great discomfort, the London
comments on the speech Mussolini has just made Can it be that such
coarse insults find an echo in the hearts of the majority, and must the
radio seek to satisfy that majority? Can they not be made to realize,
by means of a victory, as it happens, that one debases oneself by trying
to debase a conquered enemy, and that force is not the only way it
is essential to be superior?

66 Garten und Strassen (1942), a diary of Junger’s months in France as
an officer m 1940 containing his reflections on the danger of undisciplined
barbarism

67 The Secrets of the Princess of Cadignan

6S HonorS de Balzac (1906)

69 A small clim bing lemur ( Perodtcticus potto) that Andr6 Gide tamed
during hw travels in the Congo In the book devoted to him Gide says It
is as if he proceeded by syllogisms If you try to make him hurry, he turns
around toward you protesting shnlly, annoyed as if you were interrupting
the thread of his reasoning "

i 3 6

Journal 1942

4 December

It is not only sounds that waken me, but often tremblings of the
earth, of which I do not always understand the cause My body, my
nervous system, is as sensitive as a seismograph, and I am aware of
someones getting out of bed at the other end of the house I should
have liked to find out whether those almost continuous shocks, those
vibrations, I felt in the cerebellum these last few nights came from
the explosions of the battle gomg on less than twenty kilometers from
here

"Hold fast to what thou hast * 70 All those possessions with
which I have let myself part’ I affected, when I was younger, never
to regret anything But now I am like a tree whose branches have
gradually lost their leaves, and the memory of the treasures with
which I was loaded sometimes rises to my heart Pleasures came and
lighted on me like migratory birds In order to welcome everything, I
lived with my hands open and was unable to close them on anything
At least I have learned to judge myself without indulgence, and more
severely even than would an enemy

5 December

The fragments of Mussolini's speech given m the Germanophile
paper of Tunis are such as to justify the scornful vituperations of the
English radio One cannot imagme anything more stupid, more false,
more flat Impossible that there are not, even m Italy, many people
sufficiently sensible and well informed to suffer from it

The Germans are behaving here, one is forced to admit, with re-
markable dignity, 71 which makes the undisciplined swaggering of the
Italian soldiers even more scandalous After 6pm they assumed the
right, last night and the night before, to snipe at late passers-by, and
this earned them outspoken admonitions from the Kommandantur
'They are doing it because of the jitters,” says Amrouche, who may
well be right, but also the Duce s speech has gone to their heads and
they are frying to prove to themselves that they are the masters m
Tunisia Nothing equals the scorn the German soldiers have for them
unless it be the hatred the Italian soldiers feel for the Germans m ex-
change, despite anything Mussolini can say

70 See The Journals of AndrS Gide, Vol I, p 16

71 Ragu told me that when he had to perform an emergency blood
transfusion to try to save a seriously wounded English (or American) pris-
oner, six German soldiers immediately offered themselves [A 1

Journal 1943

x 37

7 December

Yesterday a mild day, not a cloud in the sky, which shines with
a pacific splendor, a soft and, as it were, lovmg serenity such as to
make one doubt of the war and of this atmosphere of horror This
morning the sky overcast, at last a little ram, much needed for the sow-
ing, but still far from enough Fmished rereading, for the third or
fourth time, the extraordinary Cousin Pons , after which I am gomg to
be able to leave Balzac, for he has done nothing better

One of the most peculiar traits of that child's character, which I
have never yet found m any other — at least to such a degree — is his
refusal to endure being found at fault Every error committed by him,
and he is constantly committing them, someone else, or the object he
is using, is immediately blamed for, so that he never asks anyone to
excuse him Never have I seen him admit to being m the wrong This
is a most unpleasant shortcoming, and an attempt to cure it should
have been made at the beginning But I don't very well see how
Probably by adding to the reprimand a heavier punishment if he does
not admit his guilt, but this called for great tact on the part of his
parents, which could scarcely be hoped for either from his ever indul-
gent mother or from his father, ready to get angry over trifles and in-
capable of ignoring the mother's mterventions in order to punish
Nothing is more interesting than to study the functioning of such a
mind, all the more interesting since that child is far from bemg stupid
Victor is much less concerned with others than with himself His in-
terests come first His strength lies m feeling no need of bemg liked,
and since he has never felt any real affection for anyone up to now,
he has a tendency to doubt the authenticity of others' feelings as soon
as they are disinterested, to simplify the moral world until he sees in
it nothing but a rivalry of selfish interests This inclines him to think
and claim himself to be a Communist, his mind alone, and never his
heart, urges him to this I have already seen examples of that

He seeks in life nothing but sweetmeats, never anything that edu-
cates or strengthens

I am rereading Le Rouge et le notr 72 with indescribable rapture

Happy to have learned at last the name of the strange plant of
which I am growing here, m seven pots, a large number of shoots It is
one of the thirty-six known species of “Kalanehoe(s)”, crassulaceous,
all tropical It has the peculiarity of reproducing itself not only by
seeds (probably) but just as well or better by shoots that spring from

72 Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black

138 Journal 194a

the edge of the leaves, then break away and, as soon as they fall on the
ground, take root It is this oddity that had caught my attention and
that I had observed during last summer ( Kalanchoe daigremontiana )

I believe I recall that Bourget m his Essais de psychologie con -
temporame 78 (which opened my understanding m my youth) quotes
this sentence from Le Rouge et le noir for its striking brevity, which he
admires "The children adored him, he [Julien] did not like them” —
and I admired it with him Today I still admire it, but I feel too much
awareness and self-satisfaction in the cynicism and some affectation of
coldness One is too well aware that he wants himself to be thus

10 December

I continue my reading, but painfully and languidly, through the
second part All those variations, willfully subtle, on pude and the
possible slights to it somewhat suggest display, ostentation From my
indifference to this outlay of ingenuity I realize that there is no incen-
tive of the human soul that is more foreign to me It matters little to
me that people "fail m their duty” to me I really attribute but very
little value to the consideration of those for whom I can have no es-
teem It has occurred to me to envy many things, but never "titles” or
"decorations ” I doubt if any of the precepts of the Gospel ever touched
me as deeply, and ever smce my earliest youth, as "My kingdom is not
of this world ” On the other hand, I have no scorn for such thmgs, but
they simply have no real meanmg for me, are "insignificant” in the lit-
eral sense of the word

11 December

Fmished Le Rouge et le noir in the night during a rather heavy
bombardment As for the reflections I noted yesterday, Stendhal him-
self brings his hero to make them in the last chapters of the book, and
this sets off strikingly everything that precedes One comes agam on
some very beautiful pages after long, boring passages that, it seems,
were written rather perfunctorily The reader, with Julien, "was tired
of heroism” as he says, having become fully conscious of the vanity of
that incentive which operates only m relation to "the idea of a public
and of others 9 (Chapter xxxix) This at last re-establishes a scale of
values It was high time!

But in the first part there are easily a dozen marvelous chapters
distinguished by mcomparable novelty, briskness, and boldness such
as would make a deep impression on the mind of a sensitive young
reader just awakening to life

73 The Studies m Contemporary Fsychology appeared m 1883, and a
second volume in 1885

JOURNAT 1942 I39

In evexy street of Tunis many Italian or German soldiers, the
former flabby, haggard, and wearing soiled uniforms, devoid of dig-
nity and quick to show insolence, the Germans well equipped, clean,
disciplined, appearing simultaneously smiling and resolute, probably
ordered to show themselves pleasant and considerate toward the ci-
vilian population, to make their dommation desirable, and gomg about
it just right Everywhere considerable munitions and armaments
I fear we may be m for a long siege

The official communiques on both sides are most contradictory,
each one announcing nothing but victories, retreats on the part of the
enemy, and encircling of enemy forces The mind stifles in this atmos-
phere of organized falsehood

Inoffensive bombmg-raids of the “Allies ” “They don t know how to
aim and hardly cause anything but civilian losses They don't know
how to fight”, this is what even their most convinced advocates go
about repeatmg As for the Germans, they know how They are learn-
ing somethmg, even at their own expense (and at ours) Meanwhile
they will waste much time and lose many men Victory will find only
a world that is bled white, exhausted

12 December

At last a rather good night, when I did more than pretend to sleep
At once the “animal spirits” revive, everything m me resumes confi-
dence and draws itself up to full height, my inner sky recovers its
natural serenity I disown that pusillanimous state which caused me
to set down painful reflections on myself on the 4th of this month and
feel myself m no way impoverished Joy is my normal state, yet without
self-satisfaction or excessive assurance, but without any useless malice
toward myself either and knowing to what physiological weakness
such attacks of self-disparagement are due One can, however, and
must be satisfied with oneself, without overrating oneself, and accept
oneself The important thing is to recognize oneself especially in the
best and to stay on the side of God

The number of German soldiers savors of the marvelous Truly they
are “occupying” the city The Moslem riffraff is obsequious toward
them and they for the most part are very dignified What wouldn’t I
give to follow them, to talk with them* But this would amount, on
both sides, to “compromising oneself ” Anything and everything is of
consequence today, one is paralyzed with prudence

14 December

This morning splendid weather, as after a night of love But it was
a severe bombing-raid. Three different times from the living-room win-

i^o Journal 194a

dow I watched at length the strange illuminations m the sky A
huge fire at La Goulette lasted almost until dawn an Italian munitions-
ship, it is thought Savage, elementary state of excitement, as irrepres-
sible as it is somehow shameful, results from the havoc and awakens
the most darkly primitive m us And if ever mysticism gets involved
in it, what a pretty mess!

The opposing parties m a country are like those teeth of rodents
that wear one another down by gnawing, one of them grows indefi-
nitely until it kills the animal if the tooth opposite happens to be miss-
ing It is essential to maintain the opposition

15 December

The Italian soldiers’ smpmg, the Anglo-American bombs, the anti-
aircraft guns, the intermittent dm of the German autos, armored cars,
trucks, or ambulances rushing by under our windows, and the expec-
tation of all these noises prevented any sleep last night It is by far
the heaviest bombmg Tunis has undergone so far Yesterday alone,
ninety dead Who can tell the number of victims of last night? One is
amazed not to see them attack the very vulnerable canal of La Goulette
m Tunis The only plausible explanation is that they don’t want to rum
it since they hope soon to make use of it “Ah, it’s all very complicated!”
as Chacha says

The Jewish population harassed, plundered, hunted down, and
the refugees from Bizerte m rums, and all that we must still expect to
see .

17 December

At last a calm night The precedmg night, letting the grandmother
and the grandson go to the cellar, I had watched the stupefying sight
at length From the living-room windows, beside M Reymond’s room,
which I am occupymg, one can see as far as the heights of Sidi-bou-
Said The broad stars made by the flares lighted up the lake of Tunis
and La Goulette, where bombs set fire to a munition-dump, making
the horizon waver with a spasmodic red glow Other bombs fell on
the harbor and, not far from us, on the town, their explosions shak-
ing the walls Showers of tracer bullets from the antiaircraft guns
streaked the sky It would be impossible to imagine more glorious fire-
works For fear of missmg any of it, I had gone to bed fully dressed, and
never closed but one eye at a time, each time it resumed, I would leap
from my bed to the living-room wmdow, my heart beating — not from
fear (and this is how I realize that I have ceased to prize life much),
but from a sort of amazement and panic horror, from expectation com-
posed of mingled apprehension and hope

Journal 1942

H 1

18 December

The Lettres Rentes de la montagne , 74 which I am finishing reading
almost m their entirety, are perhaps less mterestmg than the accom-
panying correspondence, which ought to be published with them but
is not reproduced in the edition I have at hand Everything about the
constitution and functioning of the Geneva government hardly matters
to us any more, nor, consequently, Rousseau s arguments What I had
read of this an the edition of the Complete Works at Cuverville had
left me with the recollection of bemg more deeply moved

The young and very likable Charles Perez, who had recently of-
fered himself as a secretary, had not been able to work with me for six
days because he was altogether taken up with carmg for the wounded,
since he is a Scout serving as a hospital attendant Certain young Jews
here, whom I know, seem to be making a point of protesting by their
civic virtues, their zeal and spirit of sacrifice, against the abommable
ostracism to which they are subjected In the lycee the Jews are at
the head of all the classes, the hardest workers, and, if perhaps not the
most intelligent, at least the most docile, the most assimilative, the
most zealous If persecution were to cease, they are the ones who right-
fully would fill the highest positions, and the anti-Semites would have
an easy time of it, new occasions to protest, to exclaim You see that
we were right to exclude them

19 December

The electric power station has ceased to function for lack of fuel
Without news from the radio, one lives m expectation, and hope feeds
on all the rumors RommeFs army is cut off, a telegram from the Rey
to Roosevelt asks that Tunis be considered an open city It is a
fact that the Germans have partially withdrawn, liberating several
hotels and restaurants A large part of the Arab population is fleeing
to the suburbs despite the placards all over the walls of Turns rec-
ommending and urging calm The streets are blocked with moving-
vans The markets are empty and we are beginning to lack bread Yes-
terday we dined with no other light than the moonlight, then went to
bed before eight o’clock, worn out by several sleepless nights and, any-
way, not knowing what else to do but try to sleep But we are hardly
in bed when the infernal orchestra begms again It ceases and then re-
sumes four or five times during the mght But a relatively small num-
ber of bombs fall on the city itself, die nearest of them more than

74 Rousseau’s Letters Wntten pom the Mountain (1764) form a vigorous
protest, promptly burned by the Parliament of Pans, against his political
persecution at the hands of the Republic of Geneva

142 Journal 1942

two hundred yards from us Many houses near the harbor (including
the one that the Ragus occupied until very recently) have been blown
up and several sections of the city have had to be evacuated

“One man may lead a horse to the water, but twenty cannot make
him drink” (found in Boswell’s Johnson , 9 July 1763, where it is given
as an English proverb) 73

After five o’clock one cannot see well enough to read We dme as
early as six thirty, taking advantage of the moonlight when the night
is clear or by the very inadequate light of a candle if the sky is over-
cast, taking great care to close the shutters and curtains at once for
the black-out, which must be very strictly observed But even candles
are getting rare, grocers are out of them, and the little wax taper of
Arab make costs twenty francs on the black market Then, with
nothing to do, one lies down fully dressed on one’s bed at seven o’clock
to await sleep or a bombmg-raid Occasionally I get up and go to
smoke a cigarette while walking back and forth m the living-room,
striving in vam to scare up some semblance of a thought m my brain

21 December

What people one meets m the streets 1 Haggard, ragged, sordid
Where were they hiding until now? Hideous outcasts who seem for-
ever unfit foi everything that constitutes human dignity, unfit like-
wise for happiness and having no possible contact with us but their
poverty

22 December

M Amphoux, our very kind neighbor, lends me La Farce de la Sor -
bonne 76 by Rene Benjamin a sour pamphlet without wit or grace
and such as to make B6raud seem to have genius 77 No more talent in
it than anything else I have managed to read by the same author

“In the eyes of many mmds that drag convictions about like old
habits * •” This is the way the book begins All the rest is of the same
quality

I note in Boswell’s Samuel Johnson

“The practice of usmg words of disproportionate magnitude is, no
doubt, too frequent everywhere, but, I think, most remarkable among

75 Gide translates the sentence into French and then gives the original

76 The Sorbonne Farce

77 Henn B&raud (1885- ), a journalist and polemicist, attacked

Gide and the Nouvelle Feme Frangatse in 1923 with a senes of articles en-
titled The Crusade of Long-Faced Men Gide noted then that he gave “every
impression of bemg an idiot ”

Journal 1942 145

the French, of which, all who have travelled in France must have been
struck with innumerable instances ” 78 (3 August 1763 )

I am readmg the £mile , which I had hitherto merely skimmed I
note "Of the children bora, at most half reach adolescence ”
Thus m the time of Rousseau, if we can believe him, infant mortality
accounted for at least 50 per cent of births

Having opened the Reymonds’ piano for lack of anything to do
(for the electricity is cut off, and after five p m readmg becomes im-
possible), I note with sorrow that I cannot remember completely any
fugue of Bach, any prelude, and can find m my head only fragments of
Chopin or Schumann

The example of Victor makes me realize, by contrast, how vulner-
able to suffering sympathy makes us He who, like that child, loves
no one and doesn’t care whether or not he is loved is vulnerable only
to what hurts him directly It is a great source of strength (but one
which I scarcely admire) to feel no need of the affection or esteem of
others Victor is indifferent, insensitive to censure, and doesn’t give a
hang what others think of him so long as their judgment m no way en-
dangers his own interests I do not think that even love later on will
succeed m penetrating his self-satisfaction He is an island living on
imports and exporting nothing

24 December

Events incline me to think I shall be here for a long time more, cut
off from those who are dear to me and whom I am not even very sure
of ever seeing agam, dear friends of whom I am constantly thmkmg
and whose affection is the most valuable of my possessions

Christmas

I reproach myself for not havmg copied m a special notebook from
day to day the gleanmgs from my readings that (Reserved to hold my
attention and that I should like to recall m order to quote them at
need for instance, this from Montaigne (III, 12) that effectively de-
picts the state in which France then was

"It was a universal conjunction of limbs severally diseased, and each
one more so than the other, and for the most part with inveterate ulcers,
which no longer admitted of cure or desired it” 79

Victor enjoys poisoning this life m common, which might be charm-
ing, despite the privations, if everyone showed a will He resists any-

78 Quoted m English

79 Translation by E J Trechmann, in the Modem Library edition

144 Journal 1942

thing that is said to him or asked of him, and often with an insolence
that would be unbearable from anyone but a child But it so happens
that when he resists like this, he is trying to prove to himself that he is
a man

26 December

Notices m three languages (French, Arabic, and Italian) are
abundantly posted on the walls of the city They make known to the
Jews that before the end of the year they will have to pay the sum of
twenty millions as an aid to the victims of the Anglo-American bomb-
ings, for which they are responsible , “international Jewry” havmg, as
it has long been well known, “wanted and prepared for the war ” (The
Jewish victims are naturally excluded from the number of people to be
aided ) This is signed by “General Von Armm, Commander of the
Axis forces in Tunisia ”

27 December

Been to check on certain results of last night’s bombing A rather
large number of bombs fell on the Arab town, rather close to the
Porte de France So long as they were few and far between, they might
be imputed to the aviators’ lack of skill or to chance, but what can
one think when faced with such frequent cases? The victims are many,
it is said Cordons of police or of soldieis keep people from approaching
the scene of the disaster, but far around, the effects of the explosions
are alarming, and one comes away full of apprehension for succeedmg
nights

Despite my resolve to read the £mile without skipping anything,
I give up Through his endless dissertations, it is always Rousseau we
look for and he interests us the more, the less he reasons In contrast
to him, oh, how wise Montaigne seems! 80 Many of Rousseau’s argu-
ments are disconcertingly inept And yet how sure he is of knowing his
business!

I no longer read any book without wondering If the author were
to come back to earth today, what would he think of his own writings?

Most of the axioms drawn from his heart, on which he constructs
his religion, his philosophy, and bases his confidence m the excellence
of Nature have become unthinkable Nothing has done more to upset
them than the study of origins, for which Goethe showed such dis-
trust or disdain When I read “What God wants a man to do He does
not communicate to him through another man, He tells it to him Him-
self by mscnbmg it m his heart” (Book IV), I come to prefer even
Bossuet

80 Montaigne's essay “On the Education of Children” (Book I, 26) treats
of the same subject as U£mile

Journal 1942 145

31 December

Last day of this year of disgrace, on which I want to close this
notebook May the following one reflect less somber days*

A night of passable sleep urged me to get up well before dawn The
first quiverings of daylight remmd me of the glorious settings out by
night in the bush when, one’s heart full of courage, one is off toward
heroic exploits, and everythmg ahead of one suggests conquest How
many times, on foot or on horseback, precedmg the escort of bearers,
I have advanced alone on the unknown trail, muffling the sound of
my steps in the hope of surprising the game that our escort would
put to flight I then used to savor a joy similar to that of fame itself,
but certainly purer and such that the humblest can taste it I really be-
lieve that even today I should not be mcapable of it, and my heart
feels no less brave than at thirty

I am preparmg to leave Tunis, accepting Dr Ragu s friendly invita-
tion to join the very kind G Boutelleaus in settling temporarily at
Nabeul while it is still possible to move about without too much diffi-
culty, it seems

While the successes on the Russian front are being confirmed and
strengthened, the military situation in Tunisia seems uncertain and pre-
carious, and this uncertainty may continue for some time In any case
the game will be hard to play and costly I believe we must expect
much worse bombings than those of the last few nights

Joy of hearing last night on the radio the first act of the second
Henry TV with an excellent Falstaff and, smce I had recently reread
it, of recognizing and understandmg everything better than I should
have hoped

Yesterday, charming lunch at Mme Sparrow s, together with the
Ragus and the Boutelleaus, after which we make our plans for depar-
ture more definite

Doubtless I no longer cling much to life, but I have this fixed idea, to
last To make myself and my dependencies last a little while longer
linen, clo thin g, shoes, hope, confidence, smile, graciousness, make them
last until the farewell In view of this I am becoming economical, par-
simonious of everythmg m order that none of this should give out
ahead of time, through great fear that this war may be drawn out,
through great desire and great hope to see the end of it

Tunis, 1 January

No electricity We dine as early as six o’clock, for the gas is like-
wise cut off while we are sitting down at the table in the light of a
single candle Bombs again fell on Tunis at noon and at five o’clock,
the results of the explosions are terrifying Jean Tournier has been busy
with a team of youths the last few mornings extracting corpses and
wounded from under the rums of a block of houses m the Arab town
that had been demolished by three bombs early m the week They
counted between three and four hundred victims It was impossible to
help in time those who were calling for help from the cellars where they
were walled off And clusters of corpses, already rotting, contmue to
be brought out from under heaps of masonry, beams, and rubble

And this is probably but the prelude to more violent bombings,
which keep one fiom feeling safe anywhere Hope of escapmg narrows
from day to day

Invited by the Ragus, I lunched this first day of the new year at
the civilian hospital together with the Boutelleaus The latter arrive
very late a bomb has just fallen on the house of Mme Sparrow, the
emment Polish doctor who is lodging them A telephone message (the
hospitals exchange is still working) warns the Ragus that Mme Spar-
row cannot come Taken by surprise m her bed, where a severe head-
ache had detained her, she had to rush out in pajamas The bomb
buried itself m the ground without exploding, cutting through the
cellar of the building They are thinking of explodmg it, and a police
cordon is keeping people at a distance from the block of evacuated
houses The evening before, I had entrusted to Gerard Boutelleau
the two notebooks of my journal (the entire year 1942), which Hope
Boutelleau had very kmdly offered to type for me Besides, fearing a
house-search, I was anxious to put them m a safe place Gerard B
had the greatest difficulty getting through the cordon of German po-
lice and getting hold of the manuscripts This is what made him so
late It is hoped that the artificially provoked explosion will not do
too much harm to Mme Sparrow’s apartment They left us imme-
diately after the meal to make sure of this

After their leaving we examine at length the plan of fleeing to
Nabeul It is essential to make sure that we are not rushing toward a
greater danger many country houses and farms have been sacked by
Arabs and their inhabitants massacred It is a sort of organized Jac-
querie 1 prote cted by the German army, which is eager to make a good

1 The peasant uprising of 1358 as a result of the English invasion of
France during the captivity of King Jean II

Journal 1943 147

impression on the native population, drunk with its demands Rather
a bomb than butchery

2 January

Calm night (like almost all those that Chacha thinks it better to
spend m the cellar) Got up at daybreak Glorious, splendid dawn,
which I contemplate as if it were to be that of my last day on earth
The lack of electric current deprives us of any news from the radio,
true or false, but a violent American offensive against Tunis is ex-
pected

I give up my reading of L’CEuvre, 2 the poorest of Zola's books that
I can recall The drama one would like to see spring from the conflict
of two aesthetics is miserably reduced to puerile elements Zola does
not seem to suspect any other enemy of naturalism than academicism,
and even then he manages to relate the anxieties of his Claude to
hereditary taints The real subject, which might have been wonderful,
is not even hinted at It is a serious mistake to set up agamst his hero
nothing but a valueless opponent, and his artist’s conflict offers no real
interest The conversations of his daubers, and even the professions
of faith of the best among them, are discouragmgly silly Enough to
justify all Zola’s detractors

I am rereading La Guerre de Trove naura pas lieu (I had seen it on
the stage) 3 Soon people will be amazed that an audience could have
appioved and even swooned over this ballet of sophistries, this dance
on the pomts of irritating paradoxes I believe the fear of not seeming
up to it did a great deal for the success of this play (see The Emperors
New Clothes )

Meanwhile five Italian ships have recently entered the harbor and
are unloadmg munitions Reinforcements are arriving daily by air

Durmg the next to the last alert Victor was busy guzz l ing “ftairs’
m the Arab town, took advantage of the disorder and panic to slap
out without paying

3 January

No, according to other information that seems more trustworthy,
the harbor of Tunis is apparently not sheltering any Italian ship at
the moment Easy to verify, moreover 4 It is less easy to estimate the

2 The Masterpiece

8 Jean Giraudoux's play, The Trojan War mil Not Take Place , was
produced m 1935

4 Yes, asserts a dock-hand since yesterday a German warship and two
Italian warships [A ]

148 Journal 1943

number of bombs dropped on La Goulette at noon the day before
yesterday A French officer, tiustworthy and well informed, claims
to have counted seventy-seven, with seven of them on the electric
power-house (the damage caused to it can be readily repaired, it is
said, but meanwhile we are without light and without radio) From
the Rs’ living-room windows I could see the wreaths of smoke
from the explosions a broad frmge above the horizon line The
raid was very short and had ended before the A A had begun to
react

But I cannot set down here the echo of all the current rumors It
is repeated above all that last Sunday the Americans were on the
point of entering Turns A very considerable spearhead of tanks is said
to have been routed by a handful of German motorcyclists who had
set out to meet them and whom they took to be the forerunners of con-
siderable resistance forces If only those tanks had continued their ad-
vance, they would easily have mastered the city Repoited as they are
here, such stories seem childish, but many examples are given of the
mcompetence and lack of dash of the American army, turning tail at
the slightest threat and refusing combat so long as they are not sure of
being twenty to one At another point (Tebourba?) a column of tanks,
attacked by enemy aviation, is said to have been louted, the men
forsakmg their wonderful and costly machines mtact m order to flee
under the olive trees, so that the German army, having seized the tanks,
brought them in triumph into town, where everyone could see them
The Americans’ equipment is supposedly marvelous, excellent even m
its smallest details, but the combat value of the men almost non-
existent, in any case, they are altogether inexperienced, incapable of
measurmg up to the quality of the Germans, who are sending their
best to Tunisia I fear that there may be much truth m this, and m any
case the Allies have to deal with serious opponents, resolute, con-
vinced men, long prepared and dismdividuahzed to the point of ceas-
ing to exist except m terms of fighting

We are wallowing m suppositions, but one certainty is that a dozen
eggs cost a hundred and twenty francs

The sky is overcast An icy wind shakes the windows Fortunately
electricity has been given back to us, but my eyes get tired quickly
and, anyway, I do not find any book I like enough to be distracted by
it In order to warm my heart, it would require some friendly presence
I cannot very well imagme what Roger would be like during bombmg-
raids Jean Sch would be too much like a hero of Corneille and too
scornful of life Mme Theo would be marvelous, Dorothy Bussy, cour-
ageous and resolute, but too emotive, Simon, probably perfect, filisa-

149

I evoke them one

Journal 1943

beth and Catherine, I fancy, quite up to snuff
after another and feel lonely 5

4 January

Visit from little Charles Perez, who is continuing to give his atten-
tion to the bomb victims as a volunteer m the rescue brigade He says
that there can still be heard the calls for help of five families buried
under the rums of the “Foyer du Combattant a large building of re-
inforced concrete that completely caved m, covermg with heavy blocks
of masonry those who had taken refuge in the cellar Those blocks
can be raised only by powerful cranes that are expected from day to
day Oxygen is being piped m to the walled-m people to keep them
alive

Charles Perez leaves me to go and wash up a bit at his parents’,
busy day and night, he has been unable to go home or undress for the
last week

5 January

No more supplies of food The Germans and Italians have made
a clean sweep of the stores Yesterday Amphoux heard one of their
upper-rank officers say laughingly m the restaurant “If the English
come to Tunis” (I even believe he said ‘When the English come”),
“they wont find a thing, not a thing 1 ” and this m very good French
One after another all the shops are closing, already you see no more
than one out of ten or twelve open, their stocks being exhausted Un-
able to replace anything, I am making clothes, linen, razor blades,
shaving stick, etc, last as long as possible The lycde has not been
closed for fear of its being requisitioned, but when the professor comes
he has nothing but empty, or almost empty, benches facing him, and
sometimes it is the few zealous pupils who wait for the professor m
vam

The electricity, which had been given back to us yesterday, is cut
off again It is said that the Germans will not leave without blowing
up the power-house

Several trustworthy farmers confirm the lamentable, absurd retreat
of the American forces before the semblance of German opposition
The sudden appearance of a handful of resolute men forced the with-
drawal of those who, very superior in numbers and equipment, would
have had only to continue their advance to become masters of the ob-
jective, to seize Tebourba, it is even said to enter Tunis And that

5 He is thi'nlp-ng of Roger Martin du Gard, Jean Schlumberger, Mme
Th6o Van Rysselberghe, M and Mme Simon Bussy, fihsabeth Van Ryssel-
berghe, and his daughter, Catherine Gide

ijo Journal 1943

sony comedy took place, almost at the same time, on several roads
‘ With their equipment, we’d already be m Algiers,” say the German
officers, still laughing What is certain is that the American army gave
the German resistance plenty of time to organize The game will be
much more costly now than it would have been if the Allies had taken
advantage of surprise But they gave reinforcements plenty of tune to
come up, not so much by ship as by planes

As soon as electricity is restored, I rush to the radio I stumble onto
a broadcast of “La France Fidele” (what can that France be? Faith-
ful to what? ) I hear “We know that the marshal has but one
aim ” and the following broadcast is announced to be m Arabic
Most likely that France is the France of the Tunis Zettung The voices
of the other stations are covered by heavy jamming

In the still childish, at times almost charming face of Victor one
can already make out which features will become vulgar by hardening
or thickening

6 January

Bombs fell last night on the avenue Roustan barely sixty yards
from the house of which we are occupying the fourth floor The explo-
sion blew m a French door of the room m which I was sleeping and
broke a large and heavy mirror in the living-room By an extraordinary
stroke of bad luck we had not made sure the windows were unlocked
because of yesterday’s wind A rather large bomb-fragment cut through
the wooden shutter and knocked out the lower pane of one of the living-
room windows

Late in the afternoon I had gone to get news of Mme Germa-
Sparrow, who had kindly served me an excellent prewar tea The
little ground-floor apartment she is occupying, rue Marceau, was pre-
served as if miraculously Two bombs fell on the next buildings, they
were exploded a few hours later, sacrificing the houses on both sides
of hers

After dinner Amphoux had played us the very beautiful Concert
Royal (the second) of Coupenn, and Nuages by Debussy

7 January

Some fifteen bombs on Tunis last night, but not very near I had
let the grandmother and Victor go down to the cellar M Amphoux
had come to join me and, since it was not very cold, we were able to
watch the bombing for almost two hours seated in front of the large
broken window of the living-room

The bombing resumed a little after five ami suddenly said to

Journal 1943 151

myself, I don’t know why the next bomb is for me, dressed in a hurry
to go out into the stair well, an my haste had neglected to take the
apartment keys, had to wait stupidly, seated on a step, until Chacha
and Victor come up from the cellar around six thirty, cursing the
absurd false presentiment that had made me leave my bed

I don’t know what I would have given when I was young to have
some day the hollow cheeks and prominent cheekbones I admired in
the portrait of Delacroix It was he or Berlioz that I most wanted to
resemble

8 January

My eyes are too toed to allow me to read at length m artificial
light However close the lamp may be, after a quaiter of an hour my
vision becomes tioubled, everything is veiled, and tears come, I have
no alternative but to stop For me this restriction is more painful than
all those to which we owe the monotony of our evening meals always
the same bean soup, a vegetable cooked in some vile grease or other
(cauliflower, artichoke, eggplant), and an orange for dessert

The temperatuie m my room is no more than 45°, but my bram
begins to function only above 60°

Victor, who generally is the last to the table, gets ahead of the
others when, like today miraculously, there is chicken, and quickly
seizes the best pieces Each day I wonder more at the extiaordmary
strength he derives from being able quite painlessly to do without the
esteem or affection of others (When I think that I am still grieved
that he should withdraw m the evening without having said good-
night to me 1 ) His selfishness gives him a sort of mvulnerability He en-
counters everything proper and seemly with “What does it matter to
me?” He is taken care of Curious to know whether puberty, which is
slow m coming to him, will awaken any feelings of emotion

Germans everywhere Well turned out, m becoming uniforms,
young, vigorous, strapping, jolly, clean-shaven, with pink cheeks The
Italian soldiers cut a rather sorry figure in comparison And the Arabs
show themselves full of obsequious regards for the Germans

Oh good Lord, I am very familiar with those well-known short-
comings of the French! They pain me as much or more than anyone
else They have always pained me and there is not one of them (lack of
curiosity, triviality, smugness and easy self-satisfaction, vanity )
from which I am not careful to protect myself But not one of my
friends has those shortcomings, and they are no less French on that
account

icj2 Journal 1943

In the streets of Tunis, where I wander aimlessly, what a wretched
humanity! Not one face that it is a pleasure to look at Men and
women, Italians as well as Arabs, marked with anxiety, as if withered,
wretched Toward evening many of them carry suitcases, baskets, mat-
tresses, and blankets for the night’s encampment Puny children Poor
cattle, fearful and hunted

Horses, asses, and mules have been requisitioned No vehicles but
the Italian and German autos, which dnve like mad, the Fiench autos
are all requisitioned by the army Electricity is again cut off I came
home and, not knowing what to do, am writing this by the inadequate
light of a candle Chacha is moving about the hall hummmg lively little
tunes Ah, to know what is happenmg to Dorothy’s eyes, to Mme
Thao’s knee, to Roger’s kidneys, to Jacques’s liver, to Marcel’s asthma 1
Aie they still alive even? Whom shall I find after all this, and m
what condition?

9 January

Victor, who is inclined to help himself before otheis, feels all the
oranges m the dish m order to save out a few for himself When I ask
him if he intends to leave only the poorer ones for the others, he re-
plies "My taste is not yours and I am choosing according to my taste
As for dates, I prefer the soft ones and you the hard ones I am free
to think it is the same for oranges ” And I do not retort that I too like
very ripe oranges, for feai of hearing him reply "In that case you must
admit that I am right to help myself first ” For if he often lies, he
never does so out of politeness

Victor has this in common with his father intending to do a certain
thing, announcmg it loudly, then not doing it I had never before met
anyone so unfaithful to himself, to his own commitments, and so little
concerned about it On the other hand, when Victor declares that he
will not do something, especially if it is a favor one is asking of him,
entreaties, coaxmgs, or threats will not get him to do it “Fortis et tenax
propositi ” 6 m the negative He is strong indeed, reproaches leave him
untouched, and the discomfort and grief of others

Refusing to do the favor asked of you is a habit to get into, a mere
matter of practice, and Victor is giving himself plenty of training After
a short time it no longer requires much effort Useless to insist, he has
said no

I do not envy Victor, to be sure, and cannot resist occasionally feel-
ing angry with him, nor yet resist admiring him I have often en~

6 "Strong and resolute in purpose” Gide is thinking of the opening
words of Horace Odes, III, S

Iustum et tenacem propositi mrum

Journal 1943 153

countered selfish people, they are legion, but unconscious, sly, snide
ones Victor, who never hesitates to lie when he finds an advantage in
lying, is utterly frank m this regard his selfishness is manifest, resolute,
cynical, he pi of esses it Had I known him earlier, I should have en-
riched with his features the Strouvilhou of my Faux-Mon naijeurs

Roosevelt’s speech holds out the bright productive prospects of
American factories, which, he declares, are now producing all alone
more submarmes than the factories of Germany, Italy, and Japan com-
bined Likewise for tanks, cannon, machine guns, and all other war
supplies Fine! He also speaks of the draft that is increasing the Ameri-
can army from two to seven million men (I think) But he doesn’t
speak, and can’t speak, of the military value of those men It is harder
to aclneve than machines, long training and practice are lacking And
the flaunting of that numerical and material superiority, if it is not
accompanied by a moral superiority, fai from reassuring me, worries
me What is the good of giving all those figures? Stalin cleverly hid his,
so that the power of the Russian army took the world and Germany by
surprise

10 January

I sleep I sleep as if to make up now for all the insomnias of my
childhood My siestas, which used to last a half hour at most, some-
times last more than two hours, without any harm to my long night’s
sleep I had gone to bed yesterday without supper, my stomach still
heavy from the lavish luncheon the Cattans had served me What a
meah It would have seemed perfect to me if I had been able to divide
it four ways Preceded “by a delicious "West Indian punch" (for Mme
Cattan comes from Guadeloupe), it began with “breiks" (which are
large triangles of very flaky pastry surrounding a soft-boiled egg in
the midst of a succulent meat hash, one cannot imagine anything bet-
ter) followed by copious hors-d’oeuvres, which would alone have satis-
fied me until evening Then came an extraordinary duck with orange,
in a curagao sauce thickened with minced livers, it was so good that I
could not resist helping myself a second time This was unwise, for I
next had to do honor to a lom of milk-fed veal with mushrooms, then
to a lobster and vegetable salad a la russe To finish off, to finish me
off, two huge cakes, one made with almonds and the other a sort of
cream tart covered with thick caramel All this washed down with
four kinds of old and delicious wines Sauterne, Beaune, Pouilly, and
one other, from their best stock I got them not to open a last bottle of
real champagne, prewar Veuve Chquot, ""such as will not be seen for
a long tune ” Dead-drunk and overstuffed, I let myself fall on the couch
the Cattans had prepared for me in a quiet room (for I had informed

i54 Journal 1943

them of my habit of taking a siesta) with blankets and a hot-water
bottle at my feet But almost at once a warning fiom the sirens and
the A A guns tore me from my restoiing sleep I feared having to cover
the long way home on foot, weighed down as I was by that too copious
meal, but a providential auto allowed Maitre Cattan kindly to take me
home I was done in

11 January

All she expected of me and I was unable to give hei — indeed, that
was due her there are days when I constantly think of it Ah, if
the soul, as you were eager to persuade me, is immortal and if yours
still has its eyes fixed on me, may it realize that I feel eternally in-
debted to you But no, in my case, since I cannot believe m an
afterlife, this is not the form my regret takes, I merely think of all the
attentions I should have had for her, and I await, and shall await, the
smile with which she would have rewarded me In what a state of
blindness I have lrvedl

12 January

Confirmation by further eyewitnesses of the American retreat near
Tebourba (in the forest of Mayana) before very small German forces
sent out to meet them The considerable column of American tanks
was forsaken by the men, who fled wildly, spreading panic, and were
soon pursued by the Germans who had seized the tanks together with
large quantities of munitions and equipment that the Americans had
not taken time to put out of use Pursuing the Amei leans m their own
tanks was a sport over which the Geimans have gloated ever since

13 January

Last night a violent storm with a great celestial hubbub, lightning,
thunder, and gusts of wind, which twice sounded like the noise of
bombs exploding I get up to make sure the windows aie closed be-
cause they were left open as a precaution against explosions I hear
Victor shouting "ChaehaJ Come and close my window ” He is fifteen
His grandmother is at his beck and call He will not raise a finger m
favor of the community, and I was the one to climb on a ladder and
paint the hall lights blue When I asked Victor to do it, he merely
answered "No,” without even raising his head He was busy at the
moment filing empty cartridges of A A rockets, which he is collecting
with the idea of selling them later on to people who want "war
souvenirs ”

Yet he claims to be a Communist and even an "atheist Communist,”
for "it is impossible to be one without being the other,” he repeats in
imitation of his fuend L&vy, who is indoctrinating him He even has
ready a whole arsenal of arguments to defend his position, for he is

Journal 1943 *55

disposed to quibble, not trying to convince his opponent, but rather
to “shut him up” and to have the last word, even if he has to repeat the
same remark obstinately after the other one has spoken And indeed
he is not stupid He is sure to succeed

14 January

We sup before seven, often at six thirty, to allow Chacba, the
grandmother, to go down to the cellar earlier and take shelter from
possible bombs I say the cellar, but it is on the ground floor that she
settles down, m the employees’ coatroom of some office or other She
spends the night 111 a deck-chair, bundled up until she seems obese
(but actually as dried up as a locust bean m winter), at her side her
handbag and a suitcase filled with necessities that would allow her to
endure being buried for three days She speaks of “her little storeroom”
where she takes refuge as the sequestered girl in Poitiers used to speak
of her “dear big black Malampia ”, 7 but she admits that she does not
sleep well there She goes there not out of fear, she says, but to keep
any family of refugees from taking it over and 'leaving lice ” And, as
if by an irony of fate, the nights when she goes there are regularly
among the calmest

At six o’clock, almost immediately before the evening meal, Victor
gets himself a cup of chocolate from his clandestine stock of chocolate
bars He has likewise taken caie to make sure of a personal supply of
jam Chacha tells me that since his childhood his mother has always
seen to it that theie was a box of sweets m his closet

Coming up from the cellar this mornmg, Chacha mislays her keys,
she looks for them everywhere in vam For the sake of peace, she even-
tually offers Victor five francs if he finds them for her This takes but a
moment, for it is a forgone conclusion that the keys fell m the outer
hall while Chacha was trying to stop the cat, which wanted to go out
Not for a moment did Victor make a pretense of helping his grand-
mother m her search until she held out the attraction of a financial
reward (I should have done likewise for darkenmg the ceiling lights )
Victor charges for the only favors he is willing to do He told Amphoux,
with naive cynicism, that his father was constantly mislaying the book
he was reading and would say to Victor “A franc for you if you find it
for me ” I should have liked to ask Victor if he did not take care to hide
it first, as Jeanne suspects him of hidmg his grandmother’s keys “What
wouldn't he do for money?” she says He tells us this mornmg at break-
fast that he managed, when the State was calling m all gold, to hoard

7 See La SequestrSe de Poitiers (The Poitiers Incarceration Case)* by
Andr 6 Gide,

156 Journal 1943

forty twenty-franc pieces, which are today worth I know not how
much, a fortune His stamp collection is valued by him at sixty thou-
sand francs

15 January

The new operating schedule for the lycee keeps the children m class
only in the morning Several times a week Victor gathers a few class-
mates m the avenue R apartment, and the dmmg-room becomes a
gambling-den The poker and baccarat sessions last from two to six
pm On the other hand, Victor reads consideiably and probably not
without discernment He has just devoured Rousseau s Confessions and
Reveries, huge quantities of Voltaire and Diderot, writers to whom he
is introduced m class, then many detective or other novels at a rate of
one a day, for, still having good eyes, he is satisfied with the light of a
single candle and reads m bed until late hours Since he didn't know
anything of Zola, I went to get him Germinal from the public library
His great friend Levy, the young Communist who is indoctrinating
him, lends him Soviet novels

16 January

No more bombings What aie the Americans doing? We are wait-
ing, we are getting impatient, we are disappointed Has the great offen-
sive that was announced been put off until later or has it failed like
the advance on Tebourba? One imagines explanations, I was about to
say excuses It is said that they don’t want to run the risk until they are
assured of an overwhelming numerical superiority It is said also that
they need fuel (and the German radio claims to have sunk the last
Alhed convoy of tankers ) As foi that offensive which was so banked
on, I now expect the Germans to risk it and drive the American forces
back beyond E6ne just as the English Eighth Army forced Rommel’s
army to retreat and take refuge at Tripoli On the other hand, the too
rare French forces seem to be fighting heroically m the vicinity of
Pichon and near Kairouan Rut the prisoners brought back to Tunis
are still angry with the Americans, who apparently left them for a very
long time without munitions and supported them insufficiently with
their aviation Those prisoners, it seems, are extremely well treated,
even coddled, and so well fed that the Italian soldiers are jealous of
them, it is said As the height of precaution, Hitler promises uncondi-
tional liberation to all French soldiers who surrender, as we learn from
a circular reproduced on the front page of Tums-Journal (of 14 Jan-
uary) and widely broadcast by planes flying over the "dissident” forces
fighting m Tunisia "The Fuhrer,” it says therein, "has decided that
the members of the French army who fall into German hands during
the fighting in North Africa will not be treated as prisoners of war,

Journal 1943 157

taking into account the fact that those soldiers have been deceived by
certain of their leaders Taking account also of the fact that those
soldiers were unable to receive news bulletins on the situation of
France and on the formal commands given them by Marshal Petam
The French Government will be called upon to facilitate the transfer of
these demobilized soldieis into civilian life” (and doubtless also their
shipment to Germany as “volunteer” workers) “The French officers
and enlisted men who voluntarily come to our lines in order to submit
to their government will be handled m order of priority ”

The Vichy radio will probably soon inform us of the results of this
propaganda, clever smoke-screen

I bend over the ladio as often as six times a day with that childish
illusion that my excessive attention is going somehow to hasten events
In the same way Valery, the first times he traveled on the railway, used
to push the front wall of the compartment with all his might, thinking
with that effort, as he told me, to add to the efforts of the locomotive
and speed up the train’s progress

17 January

I am leading Goethe’s Achillets 8 and enjoying it greatly Goethe
gives Achilles some wonderful maxims, the first rejoinders of Pallas
Athena are no less beautiful Odd that so artificial a work can seem
successful to such a degree — at least m spots, foi the final canto is ex-
tremely disappointing Goethe was right not to prolong that feat further

Read much of late despite the fatigue of my eyes But my bram has
ceased to accept any but not very lasting impressions, it seems that
nothing more can be deeply inscribed m it Whence I harvest, after all,
but little profit from these readmgs I am continuing, as a matter of
duty, that of Boswell’s Johnson Boswell is considerably more intelli-
gent and stout than Eckermann, but, to be sure, Johnson is less im-
portant than Goethe, one is more amused than taught by him, and
Boswell is often quite right to stand up to him and to accept his opin-
ions and judgments only with many reservations Not much of a lesson
to be hoped for from conformists I am eager, as soon as the Boswell is
finished, to launch into Gibbon’s Decline and Fall

The sight of Victor at the table used to plunge me, the first few
days, into stupefaction Now I have become accustomed to it, nothing
about Victor amazes me any more But on occasion I still fall into a
sort of dazed contemplation when he settles down and spreads out,
both elbows far from his body and on a level with his face to raise to

8 The Achilleid is but a fragment, left unfinished

158 Journal 1943

his mouth glass, spoon, or fork He often gets along without the last
implement, m the Arab fashion, subsequently sucking his sauce-
covered fingers, he uses them also, on the same occasion, to pick his
teeth He guzzles, stuffing in enormous mouthfuls and always helping
himself first when the dish is to his liking His whole person proclaims
“This is the way I am, too bad if you don t like it!” It should be added
that he has considerably peifected himself since the departure of his
parents, who, however indulgent they were, would never have put up
with certain too offensive manifestations of his cheek In the early days
I used to risk a few remarks, but what is the use? He listens only to
what encourages him and pushes him farther m his direction His
parents have never given him any discipline, but merely aid, support,
protection, and approbation His father, to be sure, is constantly nag-
ging at him, but always yields to him m the last analysis and at heart,
as Amrouche claims, admires him His mother, made up wholly of
weakness, indulgence, and love, forgives him everything Both of them
attribute all the unpleasant aspects of their son to “the awkward age ”
I do not believe that child has ever been punished And probably a
certain amount of theory entered into his parents’ educational system
the decision to ask nothing of him without his understanding and ap-
proving it Whatever you ask of him, he retorts at once “Why?” He is
one more example of those children for whom it would have been bet-
ter to be long exiled from their families In any case, I do not think
Victor is capable of feelmg real gratitude toward his parents The
virtues of his mother, who is one of the finest and worthiest women I
have ever met, are incomprehensible to him As for the affection she
bears him, he thinks he has found its explanation m the writings of
Freud, and he takes advantage of it As for his father, he spares no
signs of his fierce scorn for him

It is true outside of those sudden fatigues that occasionally de-
scend upon me and during which I should like to be able to shout
“Pax!” to life, I scarcely feel my age I do not really succeed m con-
vincing myself when I keep telling myself at all hours of the day
“Poor old fellow, you are past seventy-three!” The bombing alerts, far
from depressing me, give me new life It is not a matter of courage for
someone who has ceased to cherish life much, but, m a state of trance,
I am at my height And, nevertheless, I am very curious about what
will follow and eager to see family and friends again

18 January

The Russians have taken back Millerovo, along a vast front they
are driving back or encircling the Germans and Rumanians The Eng-
lish Eighth Army is pushing Rommel’s army back m Tnpolitania Gen-

Journal 1943 159

era! Leclerc’s heroic advance is winning over the whole region of the
Fezzan The French forces from Tunisia are engaged m a hard battle
near Kairouan, victoriously, it seems, despite their inadequate equip-
ment And meanwhile what is the American army doing' 5 What is it
waiting for? Is not this the moment for it to attack while the Ger-
mans are busy on so many fronts? Is it going to lose this opportunity?
Must we see m this temporizmg a skillful strategy or a blunder, wise
patience or timorous incompetence? Or do they plan to spring into ac-
tion only when suie of winning, after having let their allies bear the
brunt of the battle? Or, possibly, are they carrying out a wish of
Stalin that the greatest possible number of enemy planes be kept on
the alert far from the Russian front? This is what everyone here is
wondering and this is the subject of all conveisations

19 January

I am reading, or rereading, the three Unpleasant Plays of Bernard
Shaw with very keen amusement Mrs Warrens Profession seems to
me by far the least good

20 January

“In principle” Victor does not smoke yet He doesn’t mmd a few
cigarettes from time to time, however He likes to smoke them lying
down, but, for fear that his pillow will smell of tobacco afterward, he
lies down on his grandmother s bed For this purpose he takes ad-
vantage of some moment when Chacha is out, and she gives vent to
her indignation only when she finds ashes or cigarette butts on her
bed-table or on her sheets

An unhoped-for, and probably last, opportunity to return to France
I am offered a seat on one of the planes that are to repatriate some
officers and civilians I pretend to myself to be perplexed while know-
ing full well, at heart, that I shall not accept The game that is being
played here is too captivating, and my fate is linked to that of these
new friends whose life I have been sharing for more than six months
It would seem to me that I was deserting That game, of which I saw
the beg innin g and which I have followed from day to day, I want to
see through to the end, even if I were to be a victim of it For I cannot
believe that there are not difficult days ahead Even if the Germans
withdraw (and this is hardly to be hoped for), the Italians, I believe,
will defend T unis , “their Tunis,” with the ruthlessness that can be ex-
pected of them when exasperated by the successive loss of all their
African possessions Are we going to have to experience the horrors of
a siege and ar till ery bombardment? Shall we see street-fighting, the
natives revolting against the French, the execution of suspects, looting

160 Journal 1943

of shops and apartments, massacres? I expect everything, I expect
the worst, and my imagination is woikmg full time

22 January

After a series of bad days the sky is again glorious Last night the
full moon was an invitation for bombing-raids The Germans shroud
the city m an artificial fog, which takes on a poetically silver look,
walls move farther away and one can barely make out the tops of the
palm trees opposite the Residence, everything becomes unreal and late
strollers no longer recognize their houses This morning not a cloud
left m the sky, a soft effulgence as on the finest days of my adolescence
The last two days Victor has hardly shown his face, has said
neithei good-morning nor good-evening, has looked glum, has not an-
swered when spoken to, and has walked by you without seeing you I
am indeed very silly to be concerned about it

23 January

But I should like to know whether he would act m this uncivil way
and show the same disregard for anyone whatsoever, or whether, as
I fear, this reveals a particular hostility toward me To be sure, he may
not like feeling constantly observed and judged by me, and judged
very severely I am the only one to stand up to him I am very much
alone, and despite the great esteem and liking shown me by the grand-
mother and Jeanne (the old servant and fuend of the family) I am
ready to feel, m the house of these new friends, as if I were m a very
false situation In the absence of his parents, Victor knows that he is
the master here Is he trying to make me feel this? He is succeedmg
through his ungraciouness I am becoming the intruder, and Chacha’s
constant attentions serve only to antagonize him the more I doubt if
I shall be able to put up much longer with his naggmgs But where
to go?

The Amrouches were on the point of coming to share my abode by
occupying Mme R, s empty room, but at the last moment they were
called upon by the College of Rad hs And I also thought of letting my-
self be taken along by the Boutelleaus, who were planning a well-
earned rest for themselves in Fauconnier’s country house, but I fear
we shall have to give up thinking of this 9 That country house, like so
many others, is requisitioned Families of refugees have moved into
everything that is inhabitable, the hotels are full of German and Italian
officers There remams the Ragus’ suggestion of going and camp-
ing somehow or other at the civilian hospital, where a bed is reserved

9 The novelist Henn Fauconnier had for many years lived in a beautiful
old house at Sidi-bou-Said

Journal 1943 xgx

for me, the doctor tells me, m the nook next to his office if need
be Today one has to be satisfied with what can be found, adopting the
proverb When you haven’t what you like, you must like what you
have " I should be inclined to say that there is no better one, if it did
not encourage resignation rather than action

24 January

Again tormented by unbearable itchings Dr Ragu s treatment had
completely overcome them last June, but here they are agam, fiercer
than ever, whence sleepless nights

Yesterday tea at the house of Maitre Cattan, the lawyer, who had
already entertained me so lavishly the week before that I had had to
be satisfied with verbena tea at the next few meals There were in-
vited also Carteron, the former Minister (who was able to give me
rather recent news of Athens ), and the head of the transport service m
Tunisia Mme Cattan had prepared foi us some “breiks” (which seemed
to me less wonderful than the last time), delicate tangerine ices, and
two huge cakes, all of the very best quality and accompanied by choco-
late, port, and various liqueurs The Minister and the “president,” ob-
viously very well mfoimed, give details of the bombings of El Aouma
on 22 January There were two raids, one at noon and the other at
three m the afternoon From the avenue Roustan balcony I had been
able to see the extraordinary effects of the first one it seemed like the
sudden eruption of a volcano Gasoline depots had caught fire, spread-
ing thick smoke over a large part of the horizon, sheltered by the
smoke, the planes (English and not American, it is said) could fly very
low and finish off their work of destruction People talk of at least
fifteen German 01 Italian planes destroyed on the ground, having just
landed with reinforcements from Sicily How does it happen that the
English radio says nothing of so successful an operation ' 3 But what
information can be trusted when, even on the spot, people are so far
from agreeing, for instance, about the number of victims? The figures
vary from 50 to 800 J The latter figure seems the more piobable,
or closer to the truth, for the arrival of that considerable troop move-
ment had gathered a number of people on the airfield, where, further-
more, a number of laborers were trying to put the field back m shape
after it had been plowed up by earlier raids The only ones spared
were those who managed to throw themselves on the ground m time
I heard the account given by one of them, but the smoke became im-
mediately so thick, he says, that he could make out nothing around
him and, besides, thought only of fleeing as quickly and as far as pos-
sible from the slaughter Germans, Italians, even Arabs are hiding their
losses as best they can, and it is impossible to check them on any def-
inite basis The same thing is probably true, on both sides, for the

162 Journal 1943

loss of human life on the Russian front Solely the very obvious facts,
the recapture of towns such as Tripoli, Salzk, Armavir, or Millerovo,
are not subject to doubt, even then the Axis press and radio, which
cannot deny them, strive to cover them with an advantageous interpre-
tation so as to keep them from seeming like real victories On what un-
steady documentation can the history of today be built tomorrow!

24 January

The Italian newspaper of Tunis, the Unlone , has reached its fourth
issue It began to appear just in time to have to announce the fall of
Tnpoh This is bitter for a paper that runs across the top of its page
this patriotic heading “Vmcere! Vmcerel Vmcere J ” 10 But one is obliged
to admit that it announces this ciuel setback much more frankly than
the Vichy press or radio

Amphoux has noted, as I have done myself of late, the increasing
number of German soldiers in a state of flagrant intoxication He says
that in the restaurants and hotels their bearing has grown lax and that
their familiarity with dubious Arabs whom they lead on to drink and
then try to brmg in and keep all night m their rooms had, on several
occasions already, forced the hotel-keeper to intervene for fear of too
great a scandal “It looks as if they are trying to make the most of what
is left them,” Amphoux says They are making a clean sweep of every-
thing they can still find to buy, but the few shops that still remam
open (one out of twelve) are almost empty already None the less
there can be seen departing at any time heavy German trucks loaded
with packing-cases, the last requisitioned stocks of foodstuffs Every-
thing suggests that we are headmg toward famine This is expected,
and that bread even should soon begin to be short In front of any
shop that still sells something on occasion, there are queues and in-
terminable waits, but those who are wealing any military uniform
whatever are always served at once 11

26 January

I had been directed to a bathing establishment, the only one still
open I went this morning, the soldiers, the first to be taken care of,
are so numerous that the proprietor told me he could admit civilians
only on Sunday “Anyway,” he added, “I am going to have to close the
establishment for lack of fuel ” The bathroom m the avenue Roustan
apartment is frigid, and without hot water I cannot, for fear of a cold,
allow myself to bathe except in bits, spacmg out the operation over the
whole day

10 "Conquer! Conquer! Conquer!”

II A decree posted up since yesterday the 23rd, I am told, is to put an
end to this military priority [A ]

Journal 1943 163

Read in succession the four Pleasant Plays of Shaw (m English)
Amazing cleverness, but at times the dose of Sardou wins out over the
dose of Ibsen How amusing they must be to act 1 And to see them
presented by good actors!

28 January

As a result of their reverses, the animosity between the Italians and
the Germans is emphasized Police in civilian clothes protect those who
are molested by Itahan soldiers, they bring the soldiers to heel, who
then sneak off Their “inferiority complex” is expressed by arrogance,
never have they been so lofty as since they have less reason to be
proud, but they are curbed by the Germans, whom they detest the
more since the Germans are making them more aware of their scorn
In Libya, m Tnpohtama, the Germans were “motorized ’ and the Itahan
army was not (“None the less, when there was a retreat, they always
went faster than we,” the Germans say, laughmg ) Their soldiers are
paid less and less well fed than the German soldieis, less well fed even
(and this infuriates them) than the French prisoners The Germans
pretend to coddle their prisoners in the hope of enticing our “dissident”
soldiers to surrender Their propaganda is very well directed, although
somewhat coarsely at tames In short, everywhere they reveal an incon-
trovertible surface superiority

Yesterday, returning after dark from the hospital, where Ragu had
treated me with a skillful, affectionate, utter devotion (intravenous in-
jection of “bromical” 12 to try to end the itching, which during the last
few days had become unbearable), I brutally fell full length in the
filthy mud that covers the ground like oil, hiding its irregularities, since
the streets are not lighted For a moment I feared I had broken my
thigh-bone, then, not one of the numerous passers-by havmg made a
gesture to help me, I got up quite restored to youth To make your
blood tangle there is nothing like such a mishap I suffered much more
from the indifference of people than from my fall

I read with amusement in Johnson’s Rasselas ( 1759 ) “I have been
long of opinion, that, instead of the tardy conveyance of ships and
chariots, man might use the swifter migration of wings, that the fields
of air are open to knowledge, and that only ignorance and idleness
need crawl upon the ground”, and a little further “If men were all
virtuous I should with great alacrity teach them all to fly But what
would be the security of the good, if the bad could at pleasure invade
them from the sky?” 18

12 Bromical, manufactured by Therapbx in Pans, is a desensitazer used
in cases of prungo, eczema, etc

18 In the ongmal, the quotations are given in English

164

Journal 1943

29 January

When, upon leaving my next to the last year of school, I began to
go out and to fiequent a few salons, I leadily realized that the thing
most needed in them is an ear, each person being more attentive to
what he says himself than to what others say Nothing flatters people
more than the intei est one takes, or seems to take, m their conversa-
tion I paid little attention to mine as a consequence, attiibutmg value
only to the written woid, and prided myself on becoming a perfect
listener ("You listen with your eyes,” Wilde told me ) Thus it is that
I was well considered though remaining silent But now, with age, I
am the one who is listened to, but I express myself so badly that I dis-
appoint as soon as I open my mouth Everything that is dear to me
and matters to me remains far this side of my lips, out of reach as it
were, and I utter nothing but banalities and nonsense I am worth
somethmg only when faced with blank paper

I take less and less mterest in conversation, in what is called “an
exchange of ideas,” except with a few rare intimate friends Most often
I strive merely to flatter in order to please, tormented by the desire to
be liked What a weakness! And how I admne those who, like Victor,
pay no attention whatever to that! Fortunately it is not the same m my
writings, where I override and am very little concerned with “what
will be thought of it ” At least this is the way I did m the time when
one could still write and publish freely If I had handled my pen as
I have my tongue, my writings would be valueless, though they would
doubtless have enjoyed a greater, and especially an earlier success

Avenue de France, in the hope of a little tobacco, queues of one
hundred and fourteen dogged people in front of one shop, one hun-
dred and three in front of another I amused myself by counting them
(At a guess I should have thought I was exaggerating in estimating
them above eighty ) Soon we shall be able to die of hunger before find-
ing anything edible to buy m any shop at any price

I cannot believe that the art of the future will delight m affectation,
subtlety, and complication This war will probably have the effect of
divorcing art from realism Reportage, which will be required to be as
documentary as possible, will liberate literature, just as photography
has liberated painting, by a sort of “catharsis ”

30 January

The German high command is apparently insisting on the immedi-
ate repatriation of the Italian fragments of Rommel's army, which is
retreating m Tunisia It is stated that the ration vouchers on Tunis
granted to the soldiers (and, I believe, also to the Italian civilians come
from Tnpohtania) are good for five days only

How can it be explained that the English radio communiques have

Journal 1943 165

made no mention of the massacre of German planes, four days ago, on
the El Aouina an field? The most important one, it is said, since the
beginning of the war m Tunisia

Ah, how harsh this separation from my loved ones seems to me
certain daysl How long this wait is! Can I even hope to see them all
again? If it may be that, after this perilous passage through the war, I
myself am still alive What care I take to save myself for them
until that day! It is this, almost as much as curiosity, that still makes
me cling to life Am I going to last long enough to see the following
chapter? And how, m what condition, shall I find those I have so long
lost from sight? How will they have stood the test? It is doubtless go-
ing on for many months more And I think the worst is still ahead of
us, in comparison to it, what we have already endured is nothing

Hugo writes ( Dteux , Les Voix)

Jusqiia ce quit sen aille en cendre et se dissoude 14

I fancy he would likewise write dissoudent for the third-person
plural of the present, but I have not been able to find any example

2 February

I had asked Maurice Blanc to send me proofs of this book, of which
he had the complete text, m principle it was to appear m Switzerland
four months ahead of the French edition After the mterraption of
postal communications did Blanc dare to overrule this? I hope so The
text entrusted to him contams a last "imaginary interview” that I did
not give to Gallimard, which is most especially important to me There
it is that my ratiocination leads, there that I place my confidence It
has not wavered, not changed since the day when, taking my bearmgs,
I tried to formulate my belief I hid that profession of faith, so to speak,
m that very limited edition, not, indeed, in order to hide it under a
bushel, but counting that, if indeed it is worth being taken into con-
sideration, certain minds will manage to note it and, proud of their dis-
covery, will be eager to set off those pages much better than I could
have done by making them public 16 Other considerations, besides,
kept me from bringing them out at once m France, where everything

14 "Until it goes up m smoke and dissolves” — from the long poem God
The proper form of the last verb should be dissolve rather than dissoude

15 I cannot understand what aberration made Blanc set those pages at
the head of the volume when I had specified that they should appear as an
appendix at the end of the book (and perhaps in smaller type) (December
1944 ) [A ] In the 1943 edition of Interviews imaginaires, published at
Yverdun and Lausanne by Editions du Haut Pays, a single chapter entitled
"Appendix Extracts” was prmted at the front of the volume in the fine-
paper copies

1 66 Journal 1943

that does not conform and is not recognized as of public utility is sus-
pect For a long time, I believe, one will not be peimitted to thmk
freely there, or at least to express one's thought freely

S February

Yesterday we were again deprived of electricity Amphoux would
like to convince me that this is to keep us from hearing the Anglo-
American communiques Hence we expect some extraordinary news m
the evening, when, after a gloomy candle-lit suppei, the electricity re-
stored at last allows us to hear the 9 15 broadcast Not at all simply
the Churchill-Inonu interview at Ankara, which lumor alieady an-
nounced this morning

Joy at recognizing Julien Green's friendly voice m the message from
America Then, immediately thereafter, the customary display of prep-
arations, the number of new ships launched, their tonnage, the future
crushing superiority of the American fleet and arms over those of the
Axis After that the least set-back will seem shameful, and victory
will seem a purely numerical and material triumph The Americans, it
is repeated, will not make up their minds to fight until they are sure of
being ten to one There is nothing to boast about m this, and some,
who nevertheless cordially wish for the downfall of the Axis, deplore
that ostentation Material force is changmg hands, but it is still force
that is again called upon to win out over human values, to assert itself
It cannot be otherwise, it will be said, and this alone matters making
that force serve the spirit The spirit, m this case, will be well
off to be on the side of material interests I fear that, in any case and
whatever happens, the spirit will remain, after all, the great loser in
the whole business

The London radio speaks of two ships sunk m the harbor of Tunis
and of docks set on fire by the raid of the day before yesterday In
truth, no ship was sunk and that inefficacious raid set fire only to an
old and useless shed On the other hand, no mention of ten freighters
shipwrecked off Bizerte, nor of the havoc on the airfield of El Aouina
How can one fail to be skeptical about all the rest they tell?

I finish Johnsons R asselas, the interest of which soon languishes
and peters out well before the end The volume given as a school prize
that contains it (published m London m 1847) also includes Mar-
montels Behsaire and Paul et Virgime without any mention of the au-
thors, without even indicating that those two works are translated
from the French 16

16 Behsanus (1767) by Marmontel and Paul and Virginia (1787) by
Bernardin de Samt-Fierre are typical sentimental novels with didactic im-
plications

167

Journal 1943
In Dteu, I wondered at

Over the blue-eyed doe the leopard stretches 17
The “blue-eyed” doef What daring* I thought But now I dis-
cover m TJArt d'etre grand-pere “ the blue-eyed antelope” It is
enough to make one wonder if Hugo did not simply lack observation
I can admit this only with difficulty, for, without being an observer, in
the naturalistic meaning of the word, whenever the visionary gives
way to the witness, he becomes an incomparable recorder I prefer to
thmk that he uses the word “blue” as Baudelaire does in La Chevelure
“blue hair,” and I admit that the dark eyes of the deer species have
vaguely azure reflections, furthermore, the word “blue” evokes ideas of
sweetness and purity that are most becoming to the victim

At times I thmk I cannot any longer endure sitting at the morning
and evening meals beside an obstinate boy who seems to have no other
concern than to show his scorn flagrantly Then I convince myself that
this is merely a result of his natural caddishness and that I am crazy
to be concerned about it

4 February

On 2 February is definitely effected the crushing of the German
army at Stalingrad after a heioic and useless resistance What must
have been the suffering of those sacrificed soldiers, devoid even of
hope that their death might contribute to victory* 3 What could they
have thought of Hitlerism and of Hitler during their agony? But what
does Hitlei thmk of himself?

“ Awakened , he descends the other slope of the dream ” 18

While waiting for the French broadcast from London, m the apart-
ment of Amphoux, our very obliging neighbor, we try out the musical
broadcasts from various stations After a Haydn Allegro, of rather
languid interest, Amphoux exclaims “It is not one of his best pages ”
Alieady the other evening when he played me the recording of De-
bussy’s Nuages , he had said “You will see, its a very fine page ” The
word “page” used this way seems to me characteristic of a surface
culture

I note among the conversations reported by Boswell (under date of
9 April 1778) this remark of a certam Harris (?)

“I think Heroick poetry is best m blank verse, yet it appears that

17 “Sur la btche aux yeux bleus, le leopard s’ allonge” from Hugo’s poem
God

18 “II descend , reveilU, Vautre cdti du rive” is a line from “La Bouche
d ombre” (“The Mouth of Shadow”) m Hugos Contemplations

168 Journal 1943

rhyme is essential to English poetry, from our deficiency m metrical
quantities * 19

Boswell is indubitably superior to Eckermann A pity that Johnson
remams so inferior to Goethe His wisdom is wonderfully representa-
tive of that of his time, but never rises above it He has very racy
sallies and retorts, but one listens to him without real profit, con-
stantly aware of the limitations of his genius Constricted, moreover,
by the credo to which he constantly renews his allegiance, but one
wonders whether without that curb he would have been able to ven-
ture very far He remams a man of letters throughout everything, and
one is grateful to him for this His style is rich, full of images, con-
sistent, rhythmical, and, as it were, succulent, m comparison Swift’s
seems fleshless None the less, if Johnson seemed to dommate his time,
he did so, I think, especially by his mass He overwhelmed

6 February

My dreams are often auditory as much as they are visual , but it
also occurs to me to dream that I am reading sentences, they take
shape m my mind as if without my knowing it, it seems, smce I have
the impression of discovering them, they take me by surprise What
an odd comedy one thus puts on for oneself, supplying the subject of
the surprise and the amazement likewise I recall having already noted
some examples of this one is simultaneously the accomplice and the
dupe 20 I also wonder at the extent to which the remarks heard m
dream correspond to the characters who make them, characters that
are often much more lifelike in what they say and their tone of voice
than m their external appearance, which is often vague and unceitam
Often, indeed, it is solely by the remarks they make that I recognize
them At first I don’t know who the companion is walking beside me,
and suddenly, on hearing him speak, I think why, it’s Marcel! 21 And
taking a better look at him, I tell myself how he has changed! On
seeing him, I should never have recognized him, but on hearing him,
I know without a shadow of a doubt that it 1 $ he

Where could X have been walking with Marcel? It was on the sea-
shore among rocks lashed with spray ‘‘When one is facing the sea,”
said Marcel, “it is impossible to think of anything” “That is what
allowed Hugo to write poetry,” I retorted

19 The quotation is given in English The speaker is identified by Boswell
as Mr Hams of Salisbury

20 See The Journals of Andr4 Gide , Vol III, pp 27-8

21 Marcel Droura

Journal 1943

169

7 February

A severe cold has been stultifying me smce the beginning of this
month Besides, the itching, which the injections of bromical are not
succeeding m overcoming, torments me every night Despite this, I
feel m a rather good mood for work and am turning this to account for
the preface to my Anthology, 22 but I am too often distracted from it
and, besides, soon get tired What I should once have written m a
morning now keeps me busy a week None the less, I greatly need this
semblance of activity to bind me to life, and this is likewise why I cling
to this Journal

Victor has been more affable the last few days and it even occurs
to him to smile when talking to me, as if he were forgetting himself
He even went so far as to invite me to come and see the big map of
Russia that he has pinned up on a wall of his room, marking on it with
little flags the wonderful progress of the Russians (This morning we
plant one of the flags on Azov ) He exulted last night because he had
discovered m his fathers library a little book on The Social Problem
written by one of his uncles or cousms No more was requned to allow
Victor to see in him a 'Communist” and to brandish the book m front
of his horrified grandmother She immediately declared that the book
was to be looked upon as a youthful indiscretion, for which E S had
quickly repented But no, the book dates from 1923 The little I was
able to read of it at first seemed to me excellent, and as I assert this to
Chacha, she (indulging in what Victor calls “a last-ditch retrieval”) in-
sists that she never doubted this, for "all the S nephews are remarkable
men ” Alas, the little book, which started out rather well, full of the
most generous utopias, does not long stand examination

S February

Days of impatient waiting I am unwilling to share the assurance
that the communiques from London and America are trying to propa-
gate and in which it seems that the Anglo-American armies are putting
their faith These positions m Tunisia which they could easily have
taken by surprise, it seems, they have given the Germans ample time
to fortify, and fiom day to day the least advance becomes more 'diffi-
cult and more costly One tries to convince oneself that these procrasti-
nations are intentional and part of a plan skillfully worked out with the
Soviets in order to hold large German forces far horn the Russian
front, where the Russian army is doing wonders, or simply that the
American supplies and reinforcements were not yet considered suf-

22 The Anthologte de la poesie frangatse , which did not appear until
1949

170 Journal 1943

ficient anything rather than to recognize in this stagnation in-
competence, lack of punch, apathy Meanwhile the Germans' dis-
couragement is obvious and their lesentment against the Italians is
growing The window of the Italian bookshop, which has been lately
e xhi biting photographs of the King, the Queen, the Prince of Piedmont,
and the Duce, had a brick hurled through it yesterday By whom? By
the Germans? It is thought rather by anti-fascist Italians The number
of these is growing, while among the party members confidence in an
Axis victory is decreasmg As soon as one begins to see that the game
might be lost, one wishes one had never begun it, aware that it is now
too late to withdraw Nothing can be done about it they will have to
drink the bitter chalice and chain it to the dregs

This morning the radio announces the recapture of Kursk There is
fighting m the suburbs of Rostov

Read without much pleasure She Stoops to Conquer , 23 very in-
ferior to The Vicar of Wakefield, which delighted me even more on a
second reading than on the first

Boswell becomes more and more interesting as he gets away from
his idolatry and dares more often to stand up against Johnson and
notice the petty sides of his god, whereby the latter nevertheless be-
comes more human

9 February

No, I am not superstitious, but I am inclined to seek out what is
considered ill-omened, rather m defiance (at least m the beginning)
and for the fun of thinking that what brings misfortune to the meek
must be favorable to the bold Thus I never miss an opportunity to
walk under a ladder, to travel on a Friday, or to rely on a thirteen
Without at all believing in the mystic virtue of numbers, I always and
regularly count (and this is often very tiring) the steps of a stairway,
at least those between two landings, the number of turns to wind my
watch or to raise or lower the rolling shutters m my room The num-
bers 7, 13, 21, and 43 are my favorites, which I adopted many years
ago for the few physical exercises to which I subject myself from time
to time But this odd thing takes place, which probably nothing but
psychoanalysis could explain I get confused between 16 and 18, won-
dering if I haven't skipped 17 and not knowing just how far I have
got, and I never stumble on any other number, but I often stumble on
this one

I do not believe at all m bad luck and think one can avoid it by re-
fusing to believe m it In general I hold that there 1 $ no situation so

23 By Goldsmith [A]

Journal 1943 171

desperate that the ingenious and courageous soul cannot turn it to ad-
vantage, but on a plane and in a realm where Hitler and armed force
are powerless

10 February

Sorry need of insulting and vilifymg one’s opponent, a need equally
common to both sides, which causes me to listen so painfully at times
to the radio broadcasts, those from London and America as well as
those from Berlm and Pans-Vichy Whatf Do you really think that all
the intelligence, nobility of heart, and good faith are solely on your
side? Is there nothing but base interests and stupidity among your op-
ponents^ Or perhaps you will tell me that it is good to convince the
masses of this, for otherwise they would have less heart m the conflict?
It is essential to persuade the soldier that those he is being urged to
massacre are bandits who do not deserve to live, before killing other
good, decent fellows like himself, his gun would fall from his hands It
is a matter of activating hatred, and one blows on passions to make
them glow brightly It takes brutes to fight brutes, consequently they
are turned into brutes

Recognizing the good points and virtues of the enemy has always
been my weakness, and it might make me pass for a traitor among the
partisans of either camp This is indeed partly why I should keep silent
today even if I were given license to speak Today there is room only
for falsehood, and it alone is listened to And everything I am saying
about it is absurd

11 February

for it is not a question of the few decent people I might find
m the opposite camp or country, but rather of the principles and ethic
animating them, which are weighing on my head and chest, which
keep me from breathing, from thinking, from loving, which sup-
press me It is against that, not against them, that I am protesting and
straggling

12 February

Even/ insolent mctor prepares his fall

Let us fear common fate and beware of ourselves ,

One victory is not all 24

La Fontaines art lies m stating lightly and as if playfully this over-
whelming truth that Nietzsche in 1870 set forth with stirring eloquence.

24 Tout vamqueur insolent a sa perte travaille
Defions-nous du sort , et prenons garde & nous
Apres le gam dune batmlle

These lines are from the “moral” of La Fontaine’s fable of Lee Deux
Coqs (The Two Roosters)

ijz Journal 1943

that we so readily forgot in 1918 If fortune happens to smile on us
again, we shall not be any more prudent tomorrow One does not cor-
rect one’s enors without first deignmg to lecogmze them

IS February

There is and always will be m France (except under the urgent
threat of a common danger) division and parties, in other words, dia-
logue Thanks to that, the fine equilibrium of our cultuie equilibrium
m diversity Always a Montaigne opposite a Pascal, and, m our time,
opposite a Claudel, a Valery At times one of the two voices wins out m
strength and magnificence But woe to the times when the other is re-
duced to silence* The free mind has the supenonty of not wanting to
be alone m having the right to speak

I feel that I spring from French culture and am bound to it with
all my heart and mind I cannot get away from that culture without
losmg sight of myself and ceasing to feel myself But I believe that the
idea of the mother country, which is so gieatly abused m wartime
(when it becomes indispensable for leading men to fight and umtmg
them under a single flag), is hard to anchor solidly m the heart of the
vast majority of the untutored, unless by a deceitful simplification
Mystical interests elude them or are almost indifferent to them It is
essential to group individual interests m a cluster around an entity,
which is France This can be done around a tree trunk only by remov-
ing its branches

14 February

In the appendix to Demohns’s book on La Supenonte des Anglo-
Saxons , 2 among some critical judgments, I note this one by Jules
Lemaitre The root of the evil m the French is their lack of individual
initiative, whereas among the Anglo-Saxons each man counts on him-
self ” Yes, this is the result of their Protestant foimation, and Jules
Lemaitre is here indicting not so much France as Catholicism But just
try to say this today

Today, in ordei to cure this evil, people are “taking a hair of the
dog that bit them” — m the original and worst sense of this expression

15 February

Suffered greatly from the cold the last few days, not so much out-
side as in this very apartment, my room and the bathroom I share with

35 The title of this book might suggest a current work of propaganda,
but in fact A quoi tient la supenonte des Anglo-Saxons ( Anglo-Saxon Su-
penonty to What It 1$ Due) was first published in 1897 and translated into
English m 1899,

Journal 1943 173

Victor are frigid, so that I cannot succeed in ridding myself of my
cold This Tunisian climate is perfidious you shiver as soon as the sun
leaves you, and in the sun you are too hot, you don’t know how to
dress, and twenty times a day I take off or put on my sweater

Nothing to say of events I make it a rule to write a few lmes every
day m this notebook as a spiritual exercise, finding, as for prayer, that
it is never so useful as m periods of dryness of heart

The day before yesterday the charming Mme Sparrow had invited
me with the Ragus to share a providential roast of pork After that
extraordinary banquet Dr Ragu very brilliantly defended this dis-
concerting thesis, which he bolstered with the best arguments Hitler,
without any real personal value, is presumably but the tool of a clever
general staff, all his decisions are prompted, but that governing council
needs him as an idol set up to rally popular enthusiasm and devotion,
he alone knowing how to speak to the masses and stir them None
the less, of late, because of their reveises, the council has presumably
kept him from speaking His silence, like his preceding speeches, is
prompted, imposed on him

It may be that this has become true, and I am willing to accept the
fact that the original Fuhrer, such as Rauschmng depicts him, has
yielded to this second Hitler, a victim of himself and his unwise deci-
sions, at last the captive of his own rash resolves, unable now to es-
cape their sinister consequences and forced to listen to advisers, to
submit to more competent men than himself, to smg small For a
Shakespeare of the future there is material for a wonderful drama m
this

None the less the English radio is shouting victory a bit too early
This is unwise presumptuousness, which might not be corroborated by
the facts for some time Such boasting, if it is not followed by victory
or if the victory is merely too slow m coming, may seem rather ridicu-
lous T his failing of substituting words for facts is then perhaps not
France’s monopoly

16 February

Probably Victor considers as empty, hypocritical pretense any mani-
festation of cordiality, graciousness, kindness — feelings that I really
believe he is incapable of experiencing and that, consequently, seem
to him pure affectation in others If he says neither good-mommg nor
good-night, this is because he feels no desire to hear these salutations
himself, living solely for himself and concerned with others only in
so far as they can be of use to him He does nothing to make himself
agreeable, and I admire the fact that m his very caddishness he is
utterly natural

Every evening after supper I he down on my bed and try to read.

174 Journal 1943

the cat comes and settles on my cold feet, thereby warming them
Then Victor knocks on my door and enters brusquely Tve come to
take my cat ” And yesterday, as I venture to say “Please leave him here
a few minutes more 111 send him in to you presently,” Victor replies
seizing the cat bodily without a word of excuse or farewell It is
his cat

Then on certain days at table, for some reason or other, accordmg
to his mood, he loses his frown and talks to you quite naturally You
feel that he does not hold his insolences against you

Chacha “Have you been to the movies?”

Victor “Yes ”

Chacha “Did you have a good time?”

Victor “What difference does it make to you?”

Then the grandmother bristles and I, to smooth things over

“What was showing?”

Victor “I don't know I didn't go ”

Chacha “Then why did you tell me that

Victor “So you will let me alone ”

The Russians have taken Rostov ( Radio -Vichy considers it more
elegant to announce The Germans have evacuated Rostov ) This has
been known since late yesterday, but the Tunis newspaper of today,
the 15th, says nothing of it Among the news from the Russian front
(under the general headmg of “the anti-Bolshevist crusade” ) it speaks
only of the “slowing up of the Soviet pressure m certain sectors, no-
tably m the western Caucasus and along the lower Donetz,” and re-
produces a “wire from Berlin” telling of the frightful Russian losses m
equipment and endmg thus “As for the Bolshevist losses in men, the
13th of February m this sector they were m the vicinity of one thousand,
whereas the Germans lost altogether but eleven men”! 1

In an article on the “Military Situation ’ an editor of Tunis-] ournal
quotes the correspondent of the Berlin D N B “During a winter offen-
sive one must always let the enemy attack”, and the commentator adds
“This is self-evident” — not perhaps without irony

17 February

Numerical superiority, superiority m equipment, and m overwhelm-
mg proportions, the Anglo-Americans have fins and boast of it They
have proclaimed it over and over and seem to rely on it Their in-
activity is going to leave the Russians all the honors of victory and
Stalm is beginning to put forward the idea that he has conquered all
alone The communiques from London now insist on the diffculties
of the contest (in Tunisia) put off from day to day, which, they say,
will of necessity be very costly Will this be to exaggerate tomorrow

Journal 1943 175

the merits of a victory or to attenuate the shame of a defeat? Whom
will they persuade that the contest was easier on the Russian front?

I cannot share the optimism of some who think the Germans will
withdraw from Tunis without fighting, that resistance will be made m
front of or behind that city, which is said to be undefendable, and that,
Bizerte rather than Tunis will be the center of the heavy fighting that
is foreseen I expect much worse ordeals, m comparison with which
those of yesterday will seem but “a poor rehearsal 59 It is not even cer-
tain that we shall come out alive from the hell I foresee, and the days
of semi-happmess that we are still living are perhaps the last

I picked up Keatss Odes agam A half-hour was enough to learn
them completely by heart agam (at least the Ode to a Nightingale
and the Ode to Autumn) I believe that likewise if I applied myself
to piano practice agam, I should have hardly any trouble relearning
almost all of Chopin's etudes, the few preludes and fugues of Bach
that I used to know by heart, etc , but I cannot make up my mmd
to sacrifice the time it would take for my fingers to recover a sem-
balance of dexterity Besides, the feelmg that I am being listened to has
become unbearable to me If I could practice without being heard by
anyone and on a good piano, I think I should nevertheless get back
to it, and very soon I should be giving many hours to it The in-
tensity of my practice in the past came from this disapproval of the
virtuosos who play in such a way as to show themselves off at the ex-
pense of the composer they are interpreting Now, I can no longer
claim at all, at present, to surpass them From my practice today I
should derive but too unsatisfactory a pleasure, it is better to preserve
mtact my regret for that lost paradise

18 February

I finished Boswell yesterday evening Those thirteen hundred pages
can be read almost without a single moment of fatigue or boredom
To what a degree Johnsons robust intelligence is paralyzed or held in
check by his religious convictions and his perpetual fear of going be-
yond them, Boswell implicitly admits himself, though sharing his con-
victions, and that through them “he had perhaps, at an early period,
narrowed his mmd somewhat too much, both as to religion and pol-
itics ” And it is not one of the least interests of this book that it allows
us to follow the intentional narrowing of that fine free thought “He
was prone to superstition, but not to credulity/’ Boswell appropriately
says This is the regard m which his book is most instructive, despite
him we see, by example, how a vigorous mmd can remain entangled
m dogma

Same scorn as in Goethe, same lack of curiosity, for problems con-
cerning ongms No more than Goethe does Johnson suspect the lesson

17 6 Journal 1943

that can be drawn from the study of primitive peoples "One set of
savages is like another," Johnson declares 26 (15 June 1784), and he
immediately directs his attention elsewhere The egg that ethnologists
will later hatch had not yet been laid, any curiosity m that regard
seemed useless and unprofitable

19 February

I go out early this morning to get a couple of pounds of "date
butter", this is all one can get at a time The confectioner m rue Amil-
car, who sells it, does not open his door until eight o'clock It is seven
thirty and already there stretches out such a queue (almost two hun-
dred customers ) that I give up too much time would be wasted that
I can devote to work I yield my place to the very obliging Mme de S ,
who has joined me, and hasten away to plunge again into the preface
for my Anthology

20 February

The Allies let themselves be deprived of Gafsa, withdrawing beyond
Sbeitla, and were unable to cut off Rommel s retreat, so that now he
has joined the mass of the German forces The lid is becoming heavier,
and one wonders if we shall be liberated for a long time In Tunis it-
self, those who long for liberation, who are even suspected of longmg
for it, are arrested They cannot all be arrested and one wonders what
motivates this or that choice Meanwhile the Arab population is be-
ginning to smg a different tune, it is said, and to turn against those
it originally received with open arms, to regret French protection,
since the German domination has been strangling and emptying the
market to such a degree, since foodstuffs have become rarer, since
prices have mci eased, smce even flour has been rationed Grumblmg is
increasing and here and there street altercations have been reported,
yet they most often take place between German and Italian soldiers
Unfortunately our radio is out of order and I must go and beg for the
news in the apartment of our kind neighbor M Amphoux

I thought I could no longer endure Victor s glumness and msolences,
already I had gone to the Tumsia-Palace to try to secure a new lodgmg
when, today, the charming Patri, professor of philosophy, very kindly
came and offered to put me up But meanwhile Ghacha had burst into
my room, havmg somehow got wmd of my intention to leave, terrified
at the idea of havmg to remain alone with her terrible grandson "I
beg you, Monsieur Gide, don't leave, don't forsake me! What would I
become^ I should go away too Indeed, Jeanne told Victor yesterday
that if you leave us she would give up our service and he would be en~

26 In the original, all quotations from Boswell are given in English

Journal 1943 177

trusted to his grandfather The vacant apartment would be occupied
by the Germans, who would sack everything ” etc I let myself be
moved and promised to be patient a little longer At times, but not
always, I curse the beastly idea I had of coming here, then I think
anxiously of those I left m France and shall perhaps not see again, I
am worried by that increasing obscurity enveloping them, hiding them,
stifling them But at times also I congratulate myself on being at
a point where a perhaps decisive contest is taking place or is about to
take place

The American army withdrew, made a disorderly retreat, forsaking
tanks, cannon, munitions, and not even pursued by Germans, but by
the Italians whom the Germans sent after them With the killed and
wounded, the prisoners and the missing, twenty-five thousand men
were presumably lost, says the American radio, which is not covering
up the disaster I did not hear it myself and know only what is re-
peated to me this morning by V This at least will keep America from
judging us too severely

21 February

According to X , that American retreat m the region of Sbeitla has
but a temporary significance, given the pressure of the Eighth Army
m the south "May this local disaster prick America’s pride*” he adds
My personal opinion is more and more hesitant and drifts with the
current, I am less and less able to stabilize it m matters that do not con-
cern pure thought, psychology, literature, or art Doubtless Roosevelt
proved to be extraordinarily clever when he succeeded in building a
rather considerable army with the approval of his people, but he was
unable to mculcate m the soldiers of that army the feelmg of urgency
that drives the other peoples to fight Each of his soldiers fights with-
out vigor, careful of his comfort and but little convinced by the reasons
given h*m for having to defend he is not sure just what He feels
neither touched m any of his vital interests nor personally threatened
He lends him self to this adventure, which after all does not concern
him, and faced with real danger, he withdraws It is quite different
when one is fighting on one’s own soil

None the less, the details V gave me yesterday are still uncon-
firmed The Americans’ retreat is certain, but their losses seem to be
monstrously exaggerated Accordmg to Z , that figure of 25,000 which
V gave me yesterday presumably includes their total losses since the
beginning of the war and on all fronts It is when opinions are not
better supported and informed that they most readily become ^con-
victions ” "The shadows of Faith,” as Fenelon says, are what permit
religious convictions

iy8 Journal 1943

22 February

But V , to whom I make this suggestion, maintains that the figure of
"twenty-five thousand ’ 27 was given by the American radio while an-
nouncing the defeat m Tunisia and covers solely those lost m that en-
gagement He admits, however, that this figure, which he is sure of
having heard, was not given again subsequently

Rereading my Journal since the first of January leaves me rather
discouraged Everything I wrote m that other notebook which I fin-
ished filling yesterday strikes me as useless and mediocre, I cannot
congratulate myself on having constrained myself to write m it every
day It is m this regard that the last notebook differs from the preced-
ing ones, which I opened but intermittently and when the spirit moved
This last notebook became for me the buoy to which the shipwrecked
man clings There can be felt in it that daily effort to remam afloat

23 February

One reads m a note to Samte-Beuve’s Fort-Royal (Book III, Chap-
ter vn) "A keen student of mankind has pointed out that sometimes
quoting one’s own remark as coming from another shows it off to
advantage and succeeds better ” A device of which he often made use
himself, of which he doubtless makes use even here when he speaks of
"a keen student of mankind,” who is probably none other than he

I cannot shake off this torpor which dulls my mind and makes it in-
capable of effort

"There is no man more different from another than from himself
at various times ” (Pascal Esprit gSometnque 28 )

24 February

Better night (the preceding one execrable), broken by not too many
awakenings, which were almost pleasant, for they gave me a chance
to become aware of the dreams they interrupted In each of the dreams
food played an important part Variations on themes of delicacies
Dreamed abundantly of Valery, and not only of him but also of Jennie
and Paule, and of a fourth child still very young, an extraordinarily

27 In English in the original

28 This thought is found in Chapter xv of Part III of Pascals Opuscules
under the title "Concerning the Geometric Spirit ” Montaigne had ateady
noted that "there is as much difference between us and ourselves as between
us and others,” and La Rochefoucauld was to rephrase the thought as his
Maxim 135 "One is sometimes as different from oneself as from others ”

Journal 1943 1*79

beautiful little girl, about whom he went into raptures 29 He made
some wonderful remarks, which I promised myself to remember, but
have now forgotten, and both of us were eating sweet “ftairs ” On
awakening, this dreadful thought greets me is he still alive?

For the past six days Victor has not spoken to me It makes me re-
gret the time when he always came to the table with a book, for then
his silence might seem less insulting This is just what he realized, and
that by not reading he would make his insolence more obvious and I
should feel it more His behavior toward me, I could swear, is prompted
by his friend Levy, who wanders about the apartment daily, or almost,
without speakmg to anyone, who is inculcating m him the principles
of Marxism, confirming him in his egoism and providmg solid founda-
tions for his spontaneous caddishness

I read one after the other Les Provinciates , Sainte-Beuve’s Port-
Royal ( at least the two volumes that concern Pascal ), Jude the Obscure ,
and Rebatet’s Les Decombres, which Ragu has just lent me 30 Pascal
is for the morning. Hardy, for walks (I ha\e gone back to that taste
of my childhood for reading while walking, moreover, I have never
lost it, but it has never been so keen) Rebatet’s mediocre book is for
any moment whatever

25 February

Before twenty, many a man thinks he is clever mdeed to discover
that man acts only through interests And naturally he thinks only of the
lowest, vilest mterests For if he were willing to admit that the most
immaterial chimeras as well as the most sublime imaginations or con-
ceptions can sometimes interest man to the point of taking precedence
over vulgar interests, we should not be far from agreeing But this does
not get us very far toward recognizing that the man who, out of a f eel-
mg of duty or to preserve an ideal, gives his life does so because he
takes pleasure in his very devotion to duty and finds satisfaction m his
sacrifice For, after all, m order to stir a man something is required de-
sire or pleasure or need This alone matters what, for you, precedes all
the rest? As for the motives of self-esteem. La Rochefoucauld exposed

29 Jenme is Mme Paul Valery and Paule is her sister. Mile Paule Gobil-
lard The poet had but three children

30 Pascal’s Letters to a Provincial , generally referred to as Provincial
Letters , form a brilliant polemic against the Jesuits, who were trying to get
the Jansemst movement, of which Sainte-Beuve became the chronicler m
his History of Port~Royal 3 outlawed The Rubbish (1942), by Lucien Ke-
batet, is a work of journalistic pseudo-history The year before, he had
brought out an anti-Semitic pamphlet entitled Les Tnbus du cmSma et du
tM&tre ( The Movie and Theater Tribes)

180 Journal 1943

them m such a way that there is no need of going back over them, but
perhaps you have not 1 ead him The Church herself is ready to admit
that “the will always works toward what it likes most/' as Pascal writes
(Provinciates, Letter XVIII), and “One forsakes pleasures only for
greater ones" (Letter to Mile de Roannez)

26 February

Nothing is more disagreeable than those “arms” of the Perier family
which Pascal adopts after the miracle of the Holy Thorn (reproduced
on the back of the thud volume of the Port-Royal , Doyon edition)
“azure with an eye m natural colors m the center of a golden crown of
thorns ” The surrealists have mvented nothmg better What can one
think of a faith that would order such an aberration? The hideousness
of that product is enough to put me on guard Pascal may subsequently
be as great as you wish, there is none the less something distorted m
his mind that annoys me, and it is not for his faith that I like him, but
for his doubt The eloquence of the Provinciates (which I have just read
from end to end) leads to an absurdity, in utter contradiction, more-
over, with what his basic fairness laid down originally m regard to that
“sufficient Grace that fails to suffice * Then it was that he was right and
one could not resist following him The Holy Thorn distorts every-
thing, tripping up that straight and upright thought, which will never
rise again Let us dismiss that Jam fcetet 31

Useless effort to remain withm orthodoxy, even when that very in-
tellectual effort drives you from it, and to prove that one has not
abandoned it when it would be only decent to listen to and recognize
the “Non possumus ” But this is the source of that anguish m
which, subsequently and to the very end, Pascal struggles This is
probably what constitutes his greatness and gives his voice that in-
comparable quavering, that element of pathos characteristic of a soul
at bay

If he had used his eloquence to fight the Church instead of fighting
simply the Jesuits, what wouldn’t he have achieved, and for the greater
good of France! What wouldn’t he achieve today, even m the very
name of the Gospel!

27 February

Victor takes his ease at the expense of others Here is something
that depicts him m the toilet that dirty little beast sits slantwise and
has his movement on an angle for fear of getting splashed And those
who come after him are simply lucky if they notice in time that the

81 “By this time [it] staketh,” was said by Martha of her brother,
Lazarus (John xi, 39)

Journal 1943 181

seat is all soiled, it is up to them to clean it* His motto It’s always
others I bother

I finish rereading Jude the Obscure in English I had read the trans-
lation when it first appeared, when I was still quite young That book
had bowled me over at the time Today I am full of reservations and
react rather violently agamst it It strikes me as dreadful, abommable,
at any rate inferior to Tes$, and especially to The Woodlanders , The
Return of the Native , and The Mayor of Casterbndge It is the last
named, I believe, that I prefer among all the novels of Hardy

28 February

However considerable the Russian victories may be, I find it hard
to believe that Germany is laid as low as the Anglo-American radio
stations enjoy proclaiming it to be What will they say if the Axis gets
the upper hand again in the sprmg, as seems to me in no wise im-
possible?

I finish Rebatefs book, read at a great rate What he says of Maurras
and the Action Frangaise mterested me especially It is not good writ-
ing always to use the strongest word, passion blunts itself m such
excess, at least the reader's passion If one let Rebatet have his way,
there would soon be left m France nothing but a handful of frenzied
partisans flaying the masses with cudgels With him I never feel less
at ease than when I share his opmion He seems imbued with this
principle formulated by Joseph de Maistre "One has accomplished
nothing agamst opmions until one has attacked persons w

It is from Sainte-Beuve’s Port-Royal that I get this quotation
Everything he says of J de Maistre and with him as a pretext is ex-
cellent and most healthily inspired

What the Count de Saint-Priest says of J de Maistre (quoted by
Samte-Beuve) might just as well be applied to Claudel u He
never listened, he alone would speak and when one wanted to reply
to him he had the faculty of gomg to sleep at once, but it was danger-
ous to place too much faith m this, for as soon as one had ceased talk-
ing, he would awake immediately and resume the thread of his dis-
course as if nothing had happened w

S March

Yesterday, shortly before noon, a more intense bombing than any
of last month I was at the civilian hospital when it began Dr Ragu
took me out on the terrace overlooking the whole city just in time to
see many columns of smoke rise Far as we were from the explosions,
we heard the whistle of the falling bombs An icy wind was blowing,
which made me go in rather soon and I thus saw arrive soon after cars
and wagons loaded with wounded, The Arabs were immediately sent

18a Journal 1943

to the Sadiki hospital, the Italians to the Italian hospital, the French
alone were kept and sent to wards where, as Ragu told me later, a
fnghtful confusion reigned I regret not having accompanied him on his
rounds In front of the hospital gate was grouped a crowd of poor peo-
ple, with whom I mingled for a time vainly seekmg some face to look
upon with pleasure Nothing but congenitally diseased, deformed, pov-
erty-stricken outcasts, ugly enough to discourage pity A gieat anguish
of grief weighed upon that sorry humanity They were waitmg to be
allowed to approach the victims, and this could not be done until after
the latter had received first aid I saw some on stretchers as they left
the ambulance, disfigured by hideous wounds, with only half a face
left, others deathly pale and eyes closed, perhaps already dead

Lunch at the hospital, then returned to town immediately after
Learned on returning to avenue Roustan that all the window-panes m
my room had been blown out About thirty yards from the R s’ house
a bomb destroyed the buildings of the registry office

No more electricity, no more gas, no more water

I went out again, I wandered in the neighbormg quarters that
had been hit Three bombs fell in the courtyard of the school, oppo-
site our wmdows None of them exploded, very fortunately, for the
pupils were still in class Other bombs everywhere around did fright-
ful damage, one dug up the pavement of the avenue Jules-Ferry (con-
tinuing the avenue de France) m front of the big cafe, the largest m
town, now become the ‘Wehrmacht Kaffee”, all the plate-glass windows
of its fagade are blown in The large movie theater next door, likewise
reserved for the Germans, is nothing but an amorphous mass of rums
If only it had been filled with an audience But no, these bombs
fell only on innocent victims among the civilians, hit no target of a mili-
tary nature or of any interest to the military operations, it seems The
planes 9 line of fire remained very far this side of the harbor, m which
sizable Italian ships had just entered, and it seems certain that they in-
tended to attack the town itself, as a reprisal, some say, for recent
bombings of the city of Algiers

The appearance of the gutted houses is hideous, the thin sheathing
has flaked off, which gave the buildings a rather respectable look, leav-
ing visible everything that an effort was made to hide a miserable
cheap construction of unmentionable materials The streets are lit-
tered with fragments of glass and rubble In the gutted apartments
everything is faded, soiled, tarnished As one walks, one raises a heavy,
whitish, chokmg dust that brings tears to ones eyes Disgust is even
greater than horror

It is learned that at the girls 9 school three women teachers were
killed and a rather large number wounded, but the children who had
time to get down to the cellar were not touched

Journal 1943 183

After a cold meal by candlelight I went to bed, unable to see
enough to read Jeanne, considering my room uninhabitable, had made
up my bed on one of the two sofas m the living room At five a m ,
alert At the first explosions I followed Chacha and Victor to the
shelter It serves as a dormitory for many refugees, who have spread
out mattresses, most of them directly on the ground I hear someone
near me say "These bombmgs will have to come to an end some dayf”
Yes, but we might come to an end before they do Die buried under
the rums, die by slow asphyxiation, in a sordid promiscuity, amid the
excrements of both soul and body No, I think I shall not again go
down to the cellar

There is talk of two hundred unfortunate people walled up thus
under a crushed building, it is feared that they will not be able to be
rescued m time, any more than those of the Foyer du Combattant,
whose ever weaker cries were heard for three days It seems that the
rescue squads are very badly organized and that no competent direc-
tion takes care of co-ordinating efforts

4 March

Gerard Boutelleau has just been arrested on a charge of espionage,
of clandestine relations with the Anglo-Americans, of sending secret
messages, etc — all things of which it will be easy for him to clear
himself, I suppose There will nevertheless remain a well-founded
accusation of tendencies and opinions which will justify considering
him as an “undesirable ” This is the word used by the Italian officer
who came, very courteously, by the way, as Hope Boutelleau tells me,
to arrest him the night before last Since Hope refuses to be separated
from her husband, both of them will be taken by plane, within a few
days, to Italy, from there I think it will not be hard for them to get to
France, for no serious charge can be sustained agamst them

Read m succession U Affaire Lerouge , Le Dossier US, and the first
volume of Monsieur Lecoq , all by Gabonau 32 The second volume falls
from my hands, for Gaboriau wallows in conventional psychology as
soon as he gets away from the field where he is best police investiga-
tion, in which he is an extraordinary pioneer, a precursor of all detec-
tive novels Conan Doyle's are but small beer compared with his Good
tram reading, but in his tune trams were slower than they are today
At Cuverville some twenty years ago I had already read Le Crime
d Or aval, with keen amazement 33

32 The Widow Lerouge (1866), File No 113 (1867), and Monsieur
Lecoq (1869) are early detective novels

33 He had read The Mystery of Orcival only eleven years before See
The Journals of Andre Gide , Vol HI, p 241

184

Journal 1943

5 March

I had entrusted to Hope Boutelleau, who offered to type them, two
notebooks of my Journal The first fell into the hands of the Italian
police I ha\en’t much hope of seeing it again, but at least the type-
script that she had had time to make As for the second and much more
important one, which she had not yet transcribed and had managed to
keep from the search party, she hopes to be able to return it to me
today, but I am not without fear that some Italian, attracted by the
first one, may try to get hold of it I do not think the police will find
anything in it to inculpate me, any more than m the first one, but if
merely some bibliophile happens to think of the commercial value
of those manuscripts

And will I ever see again the papers I left in Parish I believe, I hope,
that Arnold Naville put Valery’s, Claudel’s, and Jammes’s correspond-
ence m a safe place 34 1 should never be consoled for the loss of Valery’s
letters I had put in a special place everything having to do with
Claudel's formal notice regardmg Les Caves du Vatican (Claudel’s
comminatory letters, Jammes’s horrified letters, and a copy of my re-
plies), I attach great importance to that very curious file 35 Even more
important the manuscript relating to Em , in which I had transcribed
the unpublished parts of my Journal and everything concerning that
supreme part of my life winch might explain and throw light upon
it Left likewise on my table the confidential notebooks of Luxor (I
wish the publication of these writings, but to be prmted only in a
small number of copies ) And all the documents relative to the “shep-
herd ” 36 Finally all the manuscript notebooks that became the
contents of my Journal and of my Voyage au Congo (many pages of
this last work have remained unpublished) Plus many unpublished
loose sheets

This last bombing of Turns produced such absurd results that one
can legitimately hope the Allies, if it has been possible to inform them,
will stop there for a time Only a very small percentage of Germans
among the victims The “Maison Doree,” where the high-ranking Ger-
man officers had their meals, was still empty, likewise the big theater of

34 The correspondence between Gide and Francis Jammes was published
in 1948, and that between Gide and Paul Claudel in 1950, both edited by
Robert Mallet Most of Valery’s letters to Gide were published by the latter
in his Paul VaUry (1946)

86 It was apropos of Lafcadio’s Adventures that Claudel in March 1914
made the discovery of Gide’s homosexuality, and their exchange of letters
on this subject is amazingly interesting and revelatory, see Claudel-Gide
Correspondance > pp 216-64

38 See The Journals of Andre Gide, Vol HI, p 4

Journal 1943 185

the Palmarium, which during the show would have provided a holo-
caust of nearly two thousand Germans, for that theater was exclu-
sively reserved for them The glass roof fell into the void Another
bomb, close by, struck the Red Gross depot, it is hoped that three
quarters of it may be salvaged medicaments and food supplies for the
prisoners At the moment of the explosions many people (several hun-
dred, it is said) had piled into the cellar of the Palmarmm, as if by a
miracle they were saved, the bomb having burst above them, and die
fall of the light glass roof not having pierced the cellar ceiling I have
just examined those rums, which exacdy frame in the Tumsia-Palace,
more than three quarters occupied by German officers Rut at the time
of the raid the hotel was almost empty, and, besides, its few inhabitants
suffered only from fear

6 March

Amphoux, after marking on a map of Tunis the spots where the
bombs fell, has come to wondering if that scattered bombmg was not
intended for the harbor Dropped from a height of tvventv thousand
feet, those bombs could presumably have been diverted from their ob-
jective by the rather strong wind that was then blowmg That may be
The useless havoc may well have been due to a mistake in reckoning,
paltry consolation for the victims* It is said the bombs were only small
four-hundred-pounders From the results achieved here, one can im-
agine the dreadful damage caused by the bombs dropped on Naples,
Cologne, Wilhelmshaven, or Hamburg — which, as the radio said,
weighed two or even four tons

One lives m constant apprehension, but, to tell the truth, this is
hardly a change for me, for even in normal times I never cease to en-
visage death and do not subscribe to what La Rochefoucauld says that,
like the sun, it cannot be looked at fixedlv 87

7 March

The Journal notebook (January to May 1942) that I had entrusted
to Hope Boutelleau for typing fell into the hands of the Italian police
at the time of the house search at Sidi-bou-Said, the Italian police
handed it over at once to the German authorities, who, I am told, were
concerned by certain passages, and particularly the one ending with
these words * It is useless to claim that, had we not declared war,
Germany would have respected France, whom she knew, better than
we did ourselves, to be weakened and incapable of resisting her for
long Alas, I had not waited for this war to think what seemed to me
evident and what even Germany with the best will in the world could

37 “Le solezl m la mart ne se peuvent regarder fxSment” Is Maxim 26 of
La Rochefoucauld's famous collection

iS6 Journal 1943

not have prevented Was it not inevitable that a >oung nation, con-
scious of its strength and trembling at the recollection of an unjust de-
feat, injured in its pride by the most blundering of treaties, deprived
by it of a possibility of colonial expansion as an outlet for a prolific
population crowded within its frontiers, that such a nation should soon
stm e, as soon as she was back on her feet, to overflow onto ill-defended
neighboring lands, insufficiently populated by an aging nation, numbed
with comfort, listless and languid? Yes, long before the war
France stank of defeat She was already falling to pieces to such a
degree that perhaps the only thing that could save her was, is perhaps,
this very disaster m which to letemper her energies Is it fanciful to
hope that she will issue from this nightmare strengthened? I believe
she is at present pulling herself together

The job of excavating is so badly organized that the unfortunate
people shut up m a cellar in the rue d’Aihenes have just been crushed
by a wall that it vv as thought necessary to blow up with dynamite m
order to free them

Eggs are 96 francs a dozen Meat costs from 100 to 140 fr a kilo,
oranges, 39 to 42 fr a kilo Jeanne served us yesterday a cauliflower
worth 50 fr One is entitled to one box of matches a month! Bread
costs 5 fr 55 a kilo, and each of us is entitled to 500 grams every other
dav

Each night, sleeping considerably better for some time now ( Cra-
taegus^), despite prolonging my sleep (inadequate light of a candle,
which moreover has to be used sparingly, whence reading impossible,
nothing else to do but go to bed at eight), I dream of edibles, mar-
velous Last night it was a chicken thigh, done to a turn, golden brown,
that I could already smell I was about to bite mto it when a noisy truck
wakened me

the harsh and harrying regime of liberty/" says Sainte-Beuve
in a note to Chapter xx of his Port-Royal (on Pascal), in which he skill-
fully implies that he, Sainte-Beuve, has preserved the delicacy of an-
other age, whereas Cousin, abusing that liberty, attacked it immodestly
The long Appendix to that Chapter xx ("A Further Controversy about
Pascal’") is most important

We were barely begmnmg to get out of the mythological era Ger-
many and Russia concurrently did much to free us from it, if only by
means of t he incomparable prestige and value of their respective

ss Crataegus is a sedative manufactured by Laboratoire Gmet and rec-
ommended in heart cases and for all tension or fatigue

Journal 1943 187

armies, but also, and prmcipally, they transferred to this present world
all the vague aspirations toward a fanciful be> ond and, so to speak, ma-
terialized human unrest If only humanity, in its artistic manifesta-
tions, can avoid bemg too much impoverished thereby* Contemporary
Russian literature, at least, seems to reveal that this is possible and to
stand the test nobly More and more, better and better, man is called
upon to be sufficient unto himself

Another fine example of anacoluthon “Man is so constructed that
by dmt of telling him he is a fool he believes it” (Pascal ) Logically
one would have to say “that by dmt of bemg told he is a fool

12 March

It requires this to achieve that You want this, but you shrink from
that Faced with that, which strikes you as iniquitous and cruel, you
protest and your white hair bristles, your “few sad last grey hairs ’ 39
But be convinced that tomorrow those who benefit from the tremen-
dous advantages I am achieving for them (by these measures which
seem iniquitous and cruel to you, but which I hold to be necessary) will
be no more concerned about those preliminary iniquities than you are
concerned today about the ugly ongm of certain great fortunes
Wounds of a smgle day, over which the flesh closes and on which to-
morrows respectability may be founded They will no longer be
thought of, but only the advantages You would not obtain them other-
wise

“This is what both Stalm and Hitler can say, they are somewhat
justified m thinking this And this is also what I constantly repeat to
myself, what my head retorts to my heart A very bad moment to live
through* Happy the periods in history when the heart does not have to
protest agamst what the reason secretly approves*”

“But do you know such periods? Or, to speak more clearly, don’t
you think that those which seem so to you from a distance do so only
because you are not m the midst of them?”

“Yes, perhaps the heart always is led to protest when it happens to
enter the kitchen or the pantry and feels nauseated when faced with
the preparations of the best that is perpetrated on earth ”

“Wait patiently, then, in your study until you are called to the table
when the meal is ready Today you can only get in the way of our
preparations with your nosy old conscience ”

Oh, if one of these two voices In me could succeed in suppressing
the other! But no, at most one dominates for a while I listen to the
echo of the painful conflict that is today laying waste the world

39 In the original the quotation is given in English

i88

Journal 1943

13 March

The din of the explosions tears me from sleep at about nine And
while I am dressing in haste, new detonations much nearer make me
rush to the window In the direction of the harbor I see vast white
clouds rismg, which filled the sky for more than an hour A very bright
white glow continued for a long time to light up the horizon power-
fully, the result no doubt of some tremendous fire Amphoux, who had
joined me in the living-room, judges that it is much closer to us than
the harbor I see another bomb fall on the left, in the direction of the
Majestic, certainly less than a hundred yards from our house And
almost immediately afterward people run m the avenue Roustan, under
our windows, carrying stretchers and hastening toward the scene The
wave of terror has passed, there is nothing to do but go back to bed,
since I am beyond the age of being able to help the victims Rut m
expectation of a new wave that may perhaps strikes us, remaining on
the alert, I do not dare vield to sleep No one can feel safe from such
a blind aim, and why should I be spared? One feels the blast from
near-by explosions pass over one like the flapping of a shroud

How many rums already m our quarter, where I go walking this
morning* Gutted houses, amorphous rums, collapsed buildings I
learn that last night s big fire consumed the wood stocks of a big fur-
niture factory without taking any victims, it is thought “Incendiary
plates” fell in the rue de Maiseille behind the big Cafe du Colisee, the
window of which was blown m It does not seem that this bombing,
which, even more than the precedmg ones, threw the population into
a panic, did the least harm to the Germans Did the planes miss their
target? What was it? What is the purpose if it all? What sense do these
idiotic destructions make? Some go so far as to attribute them to
camouflaged German planes, propaganda bombings, they say In any
case, German propaganda does not hesitate to use them

On the other hand, the damage on the airfield of Gamarth, beyond
La Marsa (which they attacked for the first time the day before yes-
terday) is said to be very considerable There is talk of a large number
of German planes destroyed At La Marsa itself a ram of small bombs
made many victims among those who had not taken shelter

Read with some impatience and a serious fatigue toward the end
Romance by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Hueffer Should like to
know the latter $ role and his share in that collaboration I naturally
attribute to Gonrad himself certain excellent parts, but it seems that
toward the last third of the book he gave the floor to the other, who is
too discursive and finical It drags on and the judicial misunderstanding
becomes boring Three literary manners are unbearable to me the

Journal 1943 189

Garibaldi (and this is why I dropped Nostromo , though Arnold Ben-
nett, who is a good judge in the matter, considered it to be Conrads
best book), the Musketeer manner, and the “ Coramba f ” manner If I
made a real effort, I think I should find still a fourth But let’s drop
it and find relaxation m Gibbon

14 March

Here I feel farther from those who are dear to me than I could be
even in the Chad And it seems to me that, far from them, my thought
falls asleep, that it required their constant attention to keep it awake
Left to myself, to me alone, my thought would perhaps have taken a
different course, this is what I occasionally tell myself, well aware that
a need of understandmg affection has always oriented my life How
often has the fear of hurting kept me from carrying logic to its conclu-
sion! This is partly because I cannot attach value to an utterly abstract
and, as it were, dehumanized thought The reason’s inconsistencies are
often the heart’s consistencies

But what seemed to me true I have always expressed even if with
occasional cruelty to some, though with much more circumspection
than one might have thought at first

15 March

Since yesterday we have had electricity again Delight at being able
to read until eleven! (Gibbon’s wonderful Decline and Fall )

16 March

Unable to hear anything on the radio but a self-congratulation of
the English Air Force — which at least never attacks anything but
military objectives, which it always hits It seems thoroughly proved
that the English aviators are considerably superior to the Americans
in danng, and consequently in precision, smce the English planes dare
to fly much closer to their targets But for those who have just noted
the useless damage caused by the last raid, such a declaration is rather
demoralizing Fme speeches take the place of action And constantly
(Voice of America) boastmg of the importance of their production!
This is to let it be known that the extraordinary Russian successes are
not due solely to the value of the Red army but just as much to the
new equipment furnished Russia by America It is said that Stalin
asked for the recall of the U S Ambassador to Moscow, who was in-
sisting too indiscreetly on this point Stalins annoyance can be only too
well understood,

16 March

The very pleasant young German officer, a student of art history and
friend of Emst-Robert Curtius, whom I went to see yesterday at the

190 Journal 1943

Rose de Sable, told me that m Rome, where he began his military serv-
ice and was stationed more than a year, the books of the Pleiade Col-
lection 40 are so sought after that the few booksellers who still have
some ask up to two thousand francs (m our money) for them (quoted
up to four and fh e thousand francs m New York, Keeler Faus wrote
me at the beginning of the war) It was that collection, created and
edited so intelligently by Schiffrin, that Jean Schiumberger and I had
such trouble getting accepted We had to insist and to struggle for al-
most two years before reaching an understanding “I don t see what
you consider so remarkable m it,” X persisted m saymg Initiative m
admiration is an extremely rare thing, here, too, nothing but followers
are found I recall a conversation with the chief bookseller (I might as
well say the only one) of Dakar, during my first stay m French West
Africa, who said to me of the Pleiade books “No, sir, our clientele
doesn't like those books, they have no chance of success No, the
colomsts don’t want them ” Then, taking out a hideous large illustrated
edition of some then popular author “Here, this is what they like ”
If I saw him again today, probably he would assert that he never said
such a thing, or e\ en that he was one of the first booksellers to sell and
to recommend to his clients the Pleiade Collection, but I am sure that
my memory is not wrong on this point

The charming F V Arnold is the first, and only, German to whom
I have spoken m Tunisia I hesitated to meet him, then decided that
my reticence was absurd We did not speak of the war He told me
simply, m the beginning of our conversation, how embarrassed he felt
by his uniform He enjoys declaring his great admiration for Thomas
Mann’s Lotte m Weimar, 41 then takes out of the breast pocket of his
military trnuc a toy edition of Goethes Divan , no larger than a ciga-
rette-lighter, which, he says, helps him over many difficult periods He
also speaks enthusiastically of Junger The war can never make me
look upon such representatives of Germany as enemies, but he knows
and feels himself to be an exception and expects to be crushed in a
world in which he will be unable to find a raison <£ £tre

Read with very keen interest ( and why not dare to say with ad-
miration) The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, by whom I had

40 A senes of French classics, well printed on thin paper and leather-
bound, which is now published by Libraine Galhmard A single volume con-
tains all of Montaigne, another, all of Rimbaud, Balzac’s Comidte humame
appears in several volumes In the summer of 1939 Gide’s Journal 1889—
1939 came out m this senes m a volume of over 1,300 pages

41 Published in 1939, this novel was translated the next year as The
Beloved Returns

Journal 1943 igi

already read last summer, but m translation, the amazing Red Harvest ,
far superior to the Falcon , to The Thm Man , and to a fourth novel,
obviously written on order, the title of which escapes me In English,
or at least m American, many subtleties of the dialogues escape me,
but m Red Harvest those dialogues, written m a masterful way, are
such as to give pointers to Hemmgway or even to Faulkner, and the
entire narrative ordered with skill and an implacable cynicism In
that very special type of thing it is, I really believe, the most remark-
able I have read Curious to read The Glass Key, which Malraux rec-
ommended so strongly to me, but which I cannot find

I notice in one of Gibbons notes (Guizot edition). Chapter in,
ad 117), of Hadrian (m regard to Antinous) “ We may remark
that, of the first fifteen emperors, Claudius was the only one whose
taste m love was entirely correct 99 42

A writer s integrity consists m not giving out as his own the ideas he
has gleaned here and there in others

19 March

All the slight infirmities of great age, which make such a mis-
erable creature of an old man Glandular restorations, I suppose, suc-
ceed on a much smaller scale With changes m temperature, for
instance, the organism now reacts only too weaklv I have to have
recourse to a whole series of drawers and vests, which I take off and
put back on twenty times a day If occasionally I try to escape that
bondage and convince myself that it is becoming a mama, I am sure
to suffer I catch cold and am down for some time with a cold Just
now I am wearing, one over the other, three pairs of drawers, and at
times, m order to remain motionless for some time m this frigid room,
have to pull on my pajama trousers over my trousers or wrap the lower
part of my body m a blanket My mind almost never succeeds in for-
getting my body, and this is more harmful to work than one can say
Besides, the unbearable itchmgs constantly keep my mmd from soar-
ing At night those itchmgs become worse, it seems as if they stand
guard to keep sleep from approaching me, and I don t know what posi-
tion to take for sleeping first one part of me, then another, gets numb
Since I have got much thinner, an insufficient cushion of flesh fails to
keep me from being indiscreetly aware of my skeleton One has to go
on living, however* constantly reminding oneself that it all might be
much worse

42 The quotation Is given in English

ig 2 Journal 1945

Victor continues to soil the toilet seat with his dung This mommg
the cle anin g woman complains mildly that she has to clean up that filth,
whereupon Jeanne scolds Victor, who protests, as always, with an
obstmate “I didn't do it ” And Jeanne (she alone still has a semblance
of authority over that overgrown child of sixteen) tells us that when
he was younger, he often happened to “do something big” (as she
says) m his trousers through lazmess or carelessness The surprising
thing is that he was willing to remain soiled until evenmg when Jeanne
didn't do anything about it Curious to know (but it is a quite footless
question) what a severe and rigorous upbringing might have made of
that child, who has an undeniably bright mind but a strange lack of
affective qualities Curious to know if m his denials he would have
gone so far as to let an innocent person be accused and condemned in
place of him, for example, the cleanmg woman for having broken the
lock on my trunk or drunk the rum locked in his grandmother's closet
I am told that his mother from the very beginning met his lies,
even the most shameless of them, with indulgent and almost amused
smiles How much she herself, who is all affection, abnegation, and hon-
esty, will soon have to suffer from the shortcomings and vices that she
so unwisely tolerated and even, one might say, cultivated m her son!

20 March

An opportunity arises to return to France, presumably such a chance
will not be repeated for a long time Three or four hours' flight and the
plane lands you in Naples, but it takes no less than six days thereafter,
I am told, to reach the frontier One can take along only two thousand
francs and a little Italian change Would I be permitted to take along
also some manuscripts? I doubt this very much and cannot accept the
idea of seeing them confiscated And once there, would I find a possible
place to live? At Cabns I run the risk of bothering my friends con-
siderably All the hotels will be full And under Italian domination
what modicum of liberty can one expect?

No, I cannot make up my mind to leave and abandon, at the mo-
ment of the supreme ordeal, the new friends with whom I had lived
these dark months and who showed themselves to be so affectionately
thoughtful Courage fads me as I think of it, I have now taken sides
with them Probably we have dreadful days ahead of us, and it is with
them that I must live them

That liberation of France which the Anglo-Americans promise us,
that liberty will prove to be for us, I fear, the occasion of serious upsets
and of lasting internal dissensions, of which I shall presumably never
see the end

J O U R Is \ L 1943

*93

21 March

It is m fields of gram and not under olive trees, like anemones, that
these huge red tulips grow, just like poppies at home The last few
days they have covered the flower stalls in the shade of the fig trees in
the avenue Jules-Ferry Not quite the same, I believe, as the beautiful
wild tulips around Brignoles

Smce the day before yesterday, radiant weather I am making slow
progress m reading Chance , the least good of Conrads books that I
know (and I know a lather large number of them) Its finical slow-
ness seems even more tiresome after the lively gait of Dashiell Ham-
mett Odd to think that it was precisely this book that brought Conrad
his first real success Hardly to the public's credit*

26 March

The offensive opened a few days ago and the battle is ragmg m the
south But after the first success, which already suggested a break-
through of the “Mareth Line,” the entrance into Tunisia, behind which
Rommel's army had taken its stand, a German counterattack had al-
most immediately driven the Anglo-American forces back to their
ongmal position Meanwhile that “Magmot Line' of Tunisia, or rather
that “Siegfried Line," had been turned on the north, and Anglo-French
forces, after having taken Gafsa, are advancing to cut off Rommel's re-
treat We are awaiting news with an anxious impatience A speech by
Churchill implies that the struggle will be long and difficult

According to Amphoux, there is an element of comedy m all this
The Allies are apparently not at all in a hurry to win and, whereas
their crushing numerical superiority would have given them victory
long ago, they prefer to wait, for England and America fear Stalm as
much as Hitler and would like to have to deal, when it becomes neces-
sary to make a treaty, only with exhausted forces among the Allies as
well as among the enemies Consequently Churchill's and Roosevelt's
speeches enjoy exaggerating the difficulties of the struggle (according
to Amphoux) m order to explain at one and the same time this delay
and the little aid that they are contributing to Russia This may be,
and I admit that the Allies have every interest in drawing out the en-
gagement, risking m the present battle the least possible of their forces,
prudently economical and eager to reserve the best of them for to-
morrow However this may be, everything suggests a still rather long
struggle The Germans are preparing lines of defense at the base of
Cape Bon, where they are preparing to withdraw and to resist as long
as necessary m order to allow their troops to re-embark The last few
days many civilians have been sendmg their families back to France
If is expected that Tunis will be fiercely bombarded, and trenches are

194 Journal 1943

being dug along the avenue Jules-Ferry, which prolongs the avenue de
France Yes, we shall certainly be in the thick of it*

But I cannot share the indignation some feel upon seemg civilians
get theirs also That indignation would be justified only if all the mo-
bilized men had deliberately agreed to fight, but they are obliged to
They did not choose their fate

27 March

Victor reads a great deal I do not know whether or not he reads
intelligently 9 but in any case he reads good authors Of late he has de-
\ cured a considerable quantity of Voltaire, of Rousseau, of Diderot,
and today he is tackling Montesquieu He is engaged m sorting, he is
informing himself

An odd failing I have discovered m this child consists m implying
that he had long known what he has just discovered Frangois de Witt,
I recall, used to excel, if I may say so, m this failing, and I was much
amused to read m Samte-Beuve that his grandfather Guizot used to
do likewise, giving out as his own the most recent information he had
received and takmg great care not to point out his sources m order not
to reduce his credit

Certainly I appear to Victor as an utter hypocrite, for he cannot
accept as authentic any feelings he is incapable of experiencing He
attributes to others, and to humanity m general, the considerations of
self-interest that guide him, and he thinks that my affectionate gratitude
toward his grandmother is simulated (He was very much amazed to
learn that I share with her the daily expenses of the house ) This allows
him to indulge m a scorn that he takes pleasure in makmg me feel His
mner landscape is one of those in which it would be most painful for
me to live, and mme one of those m which he would feel most out of
his element I should like to be able to keep an eye on that child in
his career So little bothered with sentiments and scruples, certainly
not lacking in personal value, ready to trample on everything that
cannot be of use to him, eager for gam and pursumg his advantage
through everything, he cannot fail to succeed

He does not yet seem very developed from a sexual point of view
I should likewise be cunous to know what advantages and disappoint-
ments this new and yet undeveloped appetite holds in store for him
I told him one day, considering the inelegance of his table-manners,
that he "was getting ready to be a magnificent cuckold * This was in-
tended to nettle him He didn't seem to be much moved by my joke,
but he probably does not forgive me the continual sallies I made at his
expense when we were still conversing, he was in no wise corrected by
them, never rose up in protest, but stored up my rebuffs as secret

] OXJ Rh \ L 1943 195

grievances, anxious to make me pay for them some dav, incapable of
generosity, but building up a capital of resentment

It is that constant, somewhat Quixotic need, almost an idee fixe ,
of correctmg, of reforming, not only m\self but others that often made
me so unbearable, first to Pierre Louys, then to so many others, but that
would make me, I think, so good a citizen of a real republic How could
it have failed to make Victor take a dislike to me, accustomed as he is
by his parents to have everything his own way, ne\er reprimanded by
them, but adulated, turning his desires mto laws and never encounter-
ing anything but indulgence for his shortcomings? How could he ha\e
discerned, through my contmual thrusts, the interest I took m him, for
which, besides, he cared nothing? For him I was simply the spoilspoit
A Protestant, of course! In that quarrel with Victor I had all the
wrongs on my side, almost all

If there returns to France a period of well-being, soon enough for
me still to take advantage of it, I promise to treat myself more gener-
ously I have always been very “close” about myself, and this has often
made me look like a miser, I was really a miser only when I alone was
concerned I was eager to prove to myself that I could be satisfied with
little But now that I have proved that and know where I stand, I think
I shall cease holding my appetite, or even my greed, m check I man-
aged to be an ascetic, I remain a sensualist There are certain elegances
less suitable to the young than to old men and I should like not to leave
too unprepossessing an image of myself Just now I am makmg every-
thing last, linen, shoes, suits, I have to! But it seems to me that nothing
will be too good for me afterward I am writing this without be-
lieving in it too much For probably such a general poverty awaits us
after die war that it will encourage me, I suppose, to even more par-
simony than m the past

Moreover, I have no great hope of surviving this period of horror

Besides, there is no great hardship in wearing frayed clothing when
one knows one could afford new things, or when one even already has
them hi one’s closet One is a prisoner in indigence, but what fine
credit one deserves for living in a jail while havmg its key in ones
pocket, with the possibility of leaving it when one wishes! . I have
never experienced poverty save as an outsider, a dilettante, just enough
to be able to understand what the pangs of real need can be to some

29 March

Events seem to be about to take a precipitous turn the famous
‘Mareth Lane” fell to the Eighth Army the day before yesterday, with

196 Journal 1943

six thousand prisoners already and a large amount of equipment There
is anno un ced, besides, a considerable advance on Gabes and a continu-
ous advance on the northern Tunisian fronts The German army, it
seems, has only to surrender, otherwise it will not escape being mas-
sacred, it is said But it is probable that it will continue to fight and
try, bv a last-ditch resistance, to protect a partial retreat and re-
embarkation, under a murderous shelling

Nine hundred tons of explosives dropped on Berlin last Saturday,
the London radio announces The havoc must have been frightful One
can hardly imagine it m view of the fact that less than a hundred tons
at the very most caused all the devastations m Tunis

SI March

Yesterday Victor deigned to break his silence for a moment to an-
nounce to us the occupation of Gabes This morning there is talk of
an English landing at Sfax People commg from Bizerte assert that the
Germans are abandoning the town Kairouan, it is said, has presumably
fallen into Allied hands

Poor dear Chacha, the grandmother, was knocked over by a Ger-
man truck (they go at breakneck speed, do not sound their horn at
comers, and accidents are numerous) She was brought home, her face
swollen and covered with blood, but, as far as one can tell before a
medical examination, without any serious injuries Fortunately, the ac-
cident took place close to the house At first she lost consciousness, and
did not come to until she had been taken into a pharmacy Although
accompanied, she had the courage to climb the four flights without
help, worthy mother of gallant Dr R , and, just like her daughter
during the most painful moments of her bram tumor, Chacha had the
moral strength to smile and, without ever complammg, tried only to
reassure others, as if to excuse herself for the trouble she was caus-
ing us

Before handing over to Mme V my Nourntures, m which I write
an mscription, I glance over again the last part of the volume, those
Nouvelles Nomtures which the most recent edition adds to the ongmal
ones, and I hardly recognize myself in them 48 Of all my books it is the
most uneven, the least good I am aware of the intention and the trim-
ming in it However close to me the first ones, Les Noumtures ter-
retires, may still be, so that I can still quiver anew as I reread them
and revive my emotion from sentence to sentence, these last pages,

43 The Frmts of the Earth of 1897 and New Frmts of the Earth of 1935
were first published together m a single volume by Galhmard m 19$J

Journal 1943 197

although much more recent, have withdrawn from me to such a degree
that if I had not signed them, I should doubt that they were reallv by
me (aside from a few “chance repetitions' 9 and certam songs that I
used m Persephone 44 ) I have ceased to feel in it that accent of sin-
cerity which doubtless constitutes the chief value of my best writings

1 April

Postal exchange with France resumes today, we are informed There
are many who take this good news as an April fool's joke However that
may be, I send cards to Marcel Drouin, Roger Martin du Card, Mile
Charras, and Yvonne Davet (most likely those cards will first go to
Berlm to pass the censor) and two letters to Mme Theo and to Dorothy
Bussy, which, through diplomatic channels, will, I hope, arrive much
sooner

8 April

Went out yesterday, toward evening, with Patri and Flory The
Germans and Italians in uniform have left the city The streets and
avenues of Turns are clear and silent Even the sparrows are silent,
which ordinarily m the evening rejoice m the branches before gomg
to sleep Deceptive calm every day the Axis troops are receiving con-
siderable reinforcements by plane Doubtless they are preparing for a
desperate resistance The future of our old world is at stake

4 April

In his latest speech Eden speaks of the definitive disarmament of
Germany It is essential to take away from her not, as he says, “the
possibility of arming again," but rather, but better, the need, the very
desire, to do so (surveillance, as we have seen, is impossible) Do not
parch with thirst whomever you would keep from drinking

6 April

Books recommended by others are rarely to our taste, and a
few recent experiences warn me of this very rare are those whom lit-
erature interests Amphoux lent me the day before yesterday a novel
translated from the English which, he said, had made him laugh up-
roariously “You will see, I have never read anything wittier or more
enthralling It is both an adventure story and a very subtle and won-

44 Persephone , an opera in three tableaux, was written for Ida Rubin-
stein, with whom Jacques Copeau collaborated on the staging, Stravinsky
provided the music, and Kurt Joos the choreography First presented at the
ThMtre de TOp4ra in April 1934, Persephone was published the same year
by GallimarcL

198 J O U R * A L 1943

derfully successful caricature of the Irish chaiacter” The book soon
fell from m\ hands and I didn’t daie tell Amphoux that I had never
read anything so ordinary, so trivial, or so insipid “Not worth men-
tioning,” 40 and I have already forgotten both the title of the book and
the name of the author

Incontrov ertibly better, Bahia of All the Saints 46 by Jorge Amado,
a Brazilian novel that Flory lends me with a warm recommendation
But I have been unable to get mterested in this purely lmear narra-
tive (I mean without depth), solely discursive, though recognizing m
it certain qualities of presentation, but very ordinary ones

A recommendation by Dr Ragu has considerable importance for
me I get along very well with him and there is probably no one m
Tunis whom I more enjoy seeing The Ragus keep open house for their
friends, and two or three times a week I go there to dinner at their
constant invitation The doctor is most intelligent, most cultivated, most
informed, curious of everything, or almost everything, he reads a great
deal, devouring book after book with a youthful avidity, ever ac-
customed to sleep but very little, he prolongs his studious sessions
until three a m It took me rather long to realize that m his readmg
he seeks above all to inform himself and m an almost exclusively his-
torical domain, the very one m which I have the least desire to jom or
to accompany him and for which my bram is most obtuse He is, con-
sequently, most inclined to read chronicles and memoirs, and I really
believe that literature arouses his curiosity only m its relations to his-
tory Yesterday I saw Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms on his table, he
was unable to get mterested, he told me, m that book which had seemed
so remarkable to me And I see him on the other hand become enthu-
siastic over works that I judge severely, like Schillers Jungfrau von
Orleans , which he considers admirable He was unable to get mterested
in Buckle, which I had gone to get for him at the library, any more
than in Gibbon, I fear, for him they are “outdated ” He confessed to
me his ignorance m natural history, botany as well as zoology, and the
little attention he had ever given it He is smitten with Maurras (of
whom Bamville, according to him, is but a pale reflection) and dis-
covers in his dreary poems qualities that I cannot discern, I should be
worried about my blindness on this pomt if I did not think the doctor
suffering from a certain literary daltonism What I like in him is his
faculty for enthusiasm and the great interest he takes m all forms of
life, his amused receptivity, his broad understanding of people, and,
beyond all that, his kindness

45 In the original the expression in quotation marks appears in English

46 Bala de todos os santos is the original title of this novel, which has not
been translated into English Gide gives the title in French

Journal 1943

199
10 April

Documentary value of literature tins alone matters to them They
would judge painting more soundly and, even without any special com-
petence m the matter, would at least know that exactitude or, m a por-
trait, resemblance plays but a small part m the value of a picture But
reporting is far from having purged literature as much as photography
managed to free painting of certain adventitious values People suspect
that qualities of technique alone confer on a canvas chances of survival
and that what the painter represents, what is called the “subject,”
matters relatively little But m a book everything is more mingled, con-
fused, and the “subject” matters much more Yet the interpretation of
the subject, the resemblance with the thing represented, its profound
resemblance, and the personal mark of the writer who sets it forth and
sets himself forth, his style — all this enters into play, constitutes the
value of the work and keeps it from falling into oblivion m a short time
To create a lasting work is my ambition As for the rest success, honors,
acclamations, I make less of them than of the slightest particle of true
glory bringing comfort and joy to the young men of tomorrow Oh,
not limit life to oneself, but help to render it more beautiful and more
worthy of bemg lived! I do not believe m any other afterlife than m
the memory of men, just as I believe in no other God than the one
that is formed m their mmds and hearts, so that each of us can and
must contribute to his reign

Dr Guttierez told me this morning that during the four years he
occupied, before Amphoux, the apartment next to the R s, not once
did Victor's father, whom he often met on the stairs, address a bow,
a smile, or a word to him, though he was meanwhile on the best of
terms with Mme R , the doctor, his colleague at Sadiki hospital How
can Victor, who so closely resembles his father, endure bemg to such
a degree the prisoner of his heredity? In his stubborn silence toward
me there is perhaps less resolve than surrender to his natural in-
clination

Oh heavens, yes, I am well aware m what sense I could say with
Valery that “events do not interest me * None of the things I cherish
spiritually is dependent on this war, to be sure, but the future of
France, our future, is at stake Everything that still concerns our
thought may disappear, sink into the past, cease to have for the men
of tomorrow anything but an archaic meaning Other problems, un-
suspected yesterday, may trouble those to come, who will not even
understand what constituted our reason for existing (I am writ-
ing this without really thinking it }

But at last events are ceasing to crush us The deeds of Leclercs

200

Journal 1943

division are rehabilitating the French army The British Eighth Army
produces an air of heroism that makes one’s heart beat faster On our
radio set, now repaired, I anxiously listen to the news, hear it again m
German, in English, m Italian, on the alert for a bit of information not
given in the other language, and as if my attention could hasten the
future

11 April

I have patiently reread from end to end the interminable Vanity
Fair I should not have time enough m France, here nothing exerts
any pressure on me, everything is leisure for me, while waitmg (And
I want likewise to go back to a Walter Scott ) But I wonder if m my
youth I had gone on reading the Thackeray to the end, or if the transla-
tion of it I read at twenty was not considerably cut The number of idle
reflections rather unfortunately date this novel, and only certain chap-
ters remam remarkable Henry Esmond seems to me much better (if
I can judge at least by my memory of it)

Rather disappointed by a rereadmg of The House of the Seven
Gables , which I take up immediately afterward Less sensitive to the
poetic aura with which Hawthorne can envelop our outer world than
to the often exasperatingly slow progress of the narration It is a voyage
in a coach, with frequent stops at inns, that makes me think of Vigny’s
lines

Farewell , slow voyages , distant sounds to hear

the wheel's delays

A friend along the way , and hours forgotten

The hope of late arrival among untrodden ways 47
That means of locomotion, indeed, had its charm, but the habit of
speed makes me particularly sensitive to “the wheel’s delays * More-
over literature that reflects And what I enjoy most, in American litera-
ture of today, is its direct contact with life

13 April

The Protestant missionaries in French Equatorial Africa and the
Cameroon were more scrupulous m general than the Catholics as to
the means utilized for converting the Negroes, the Catholics more con-
cerned with the number than the quality of the new converts Yet at
Yaounde (I believe), Maistre told me he freely turned to cinemato-
graphic representation of miracles, he did not understand how I could

47 Adieu , voyages lents, bruits lointams qu’on Scoute

les retards de Tessieu
Vn arm rencontri , les heures oubliees
Vespovr (Tar river tard dans un sauvage lieu
These lines are from La Matson du berger (The Shepherds Wain),

201

Journal 1943

consider that practice as dishonest It took unfair advantage, I told
him, of the naivete and ignorance of the spectators who were unable
to recognize the trick devices he was using But Maistre firmly be-
lieved in the reality of miracles and could not recognize anv imposture
in their artificial reconstitution Solely my incredulity fed my censure,
he considered, if I admitted that the miracle had taken place, I should
consider its re-presentation as legitimate For him, a belie\ er, the ques-
tion did not even arise

Gibbon brmgs out one of the causes, which I had not noted, of the
gloom cast over society by Christianity “Those persons,’ he writes,
“who in the world had followed the dictates of benevolence and
propriety, derived such a calm satisfaction from the opinion of their
own rectitude” (see Goethe), “as rendered them much less susceptible
of the sudden emotions of shame , of grief , and of terror ” (italics are
mme) “which have given birth to so many wonderful conversions ” And
he adds very judiciously “As they emerged from sm and supeistition
to the glorious hope of immortality, they resolved to devote themselves
to a life, not only of virtue, but of penitence ” (Book I, Chapter xv ) 48

But to feel unutilizable for this great action that is about to
begin, to feel one’s intelligence not so much reduced perhaps as slowed
down, without sudden impulses to counter, without retorts, still an
excellent spectator, but not a participant in the struggle, and too acqui-
escent m the event whatever it may be No indeed, not for honors,
not for money, not even for personal protection shall I be made to say
what I do not think, but I am less and less sure of what I think or that
reason should be all on my side I even believe that the cases of total
and fundamental error are rather rare or at least rather rapidly put
out of countenance People could be found who think that if Galileo
was nght to be convinced that the earth turns, at least he was wrong
to say so, because of the harm that might cause the Church This is
also what certain Communists told me after my return from the
USSR “We know all that as well as you, but sW It is essential first
of all to say or do nothing that might harm the party ” In the last re-
sort, did not the as Stendhal called them, get the better of

Pascal? 49 Besides, Pascal’s arrows have become blunted, and his shafts
do not carry so far as they once did I did not always feel on his side
when I recently reread the Provmciales But when faced with injustice
and oppression, it is difficult for my heart not to rise up I shall prob-

48 In the original the quotations are given in English

48 Stendhal called the Jesuits "t4j4s“ because of Socs&£ da JSsas, (he
name of their order.

202

Journal 1943

ably not relinquish indignation until I relinquish life It is said to be
the very “wrong side ' of love, but I believe that for certain natures
this wrong side wears out less rapidly than the right side

A “nature’ 5 like mine is utterly unfit for politics Not that I am to-
tally devoid of the spirit of intrigue, but only with difficulty convmced
that all the wrongs are on the side of the adversary, I am more in-
clined to busy myself with understanding him than with combating
him Consequently I am worth nothing m discussion, leavmg my po-
sition to follow the other, bemg thrown off the scent and soon having
no idea where I am Its lamentable

16 April

Reread King John , a most imperfect drama, but containing three or
four scenes that count among Shakespeare’s finest ones and certain
series of admirable lines It also contams the Ime that served as an epi-
graph for Conrad, which I had not yet been able to locate
So foul a sky clears not imthout a storm

17 April

This morning I reread with delight numerous parts of the Well-
Tempered Clavichord , of which F left me the first book yesterday I
believe that of all of them the slow Fugue m C-sharp mmor is my
favorite, it is almost the only one that I can readily imagine interpreted
by a chorus of human voices But as I go over them, there are at least
a half dozen that strike me as no less beautiful Literature has been un-
able to produce anything so perfect

19 April

The bombing of the night of the 17th, which seemed by far the
most terrible, has presumably had no victims, we are told, and caused
but very little damage It kept us awake a large part of the night Far
as we were from the places where the bombs fell, the house was shaken
by them Probably the windows and doors of the avenue Roustan have
been blown m, and I imagine that poor Chacha must have thought her
last hour had struck Sorry to have had to forsake her m that ordeal
Last night, likewise interrupted by continual alerts, but for a bomb-
ing that, if it was not any lighter, was at least farther off The bombs
of the night before also seemed much more powerful than those pre-
viously dropped on Turns Probably until the day of liberation almost
all our mghts will be similarly upset

Dazzled by Richard 11 , of which I had but too vague a recollection
Wonderful, the second scene of the first act — Mowbray accused by
Bolmgbroke (Harry Hereford, Lancaster), with a rather long senes

J O U R N A L 1943 203

of rhymed verses Wonderful, the profession of love for England b\
John of Gaunt, the King's brother, on his deathbed (Act II, Scene 1 ) -
which I ought to learn by heart

Art — called upon to disappear from the earth, progressively, com-
pletely It was the concern of a choice few, some thin g impenetrable
for the * common run of mortals ” For them, vulgar joys But today the
chosen few themselves are battering down their privileges, unwillin g
to admit that anything should be reserved for them By a somewhat
silly magnanimity, the best of today desire the best for all

I can imagine a time commg when aristocratic art will give way to
a common well-being, when what is individual will cease to have a
justification and will be ashamed of itself Already we ha ve been able
to see the Russians reviling whatever manifests an individual feeling,
no longer admitting anything but what can be understood by anyone
whatever, and this may become anything whatever Humanity is
awakening from its mythological numbness and \entures forth into
reality All these children's baubles will be relegated among the obso-
lete, those to come will not even understand any longer how for cen-
turies people could have been amused by them

Withdrawing himself into some obscure retirement and pa-
tiently expecting the return of peace and security

(Gibbon, Chapter xvi )

20 April

I finish Richard II Odd play in which no further curiosity as to
events maintains one's mterest after the second act, nothing further but
poetic ground swells Most amazmg sketch of the Kings flabby char-
acter Those two great families of Shakespearean characters the men
of action and the irresolute men, whom he opposes to one another in
many of his dramas And often the irresolute man is the center of the
play, of which the very subject becomes his deterioration and retroces-
sion before the other, better equipped than he for life The first often
gifted with the most exquisite qualities, the other stronger because less
scrupulous Whence, so often, the sacrifice of the best

Did Freud know and cite the Duke of York's slip when saying to
the Queen, after having just learned of the death of the Duchess of
Gloucester

Come , sister — cousin I would say — pray, pardon me

(Act II, Scene u }

As soon as I have read it, I reread Richard II almost entirely One
of the least perfect, the least constructed of Shakespeare's dramas, but
one of the strangest, one of the heaviest with poetry.

Journal 1943

204

What to do with such a Ime

House tip thy youthful blood , be valiant and live 9
which I cannot succeed in scanning satisfactorily

Days as if stolen from life It is now already eight spent in
thus retreat, rather gloomy despite the extreme kindness of my hosts
and companions m captivity They have been cloistered for almost six
months, not even daring to show their faces at the wmdow or especially
to appear on the balcony m full view of the neighboring terraces, even
less to risk themselves m the streets, where one is exposed to mass
round-ups That my own person is sought by the German authorities
is not thoroughly proved Arrested as a suspect? Suspected of what?
No, but perhaps a lawful prize as a witness likely to talk and whom
they prefer not leaving to die English This is what was suddenly told
me, and that I should do better to “hide out/" as so many others were
doing, without further delay Even though I find it hard to convince
myself that, if it came to that, my person or my voice could be of any
importance, it was better not to run the risk of a forced voyage and
sojourn m Germany or Italy

Numerous hostages, undesirables or suspects, have been sent back
to France of late, but many of the planes transporting them have been
brought down on the way and no convoy is seen off without anxiety

Pierre Laurens — peevish and powerless, dreadfully jealous of the
friendship his brother bore me and using every means to undermine
it He did not succeed m this, but Paul, animated by a very keen
“family spirit/" who, all kindness, intelligence, and charm, trembled at
his younger brother’s brutality, hid from him m order to see me, set-
ting clandestine rendezvous like a guilty man or a lover, in which he
would complain at length of that constraint upon his feelmgs and
thoughts, console himself for his own weakness by the account of those
despotic abuses of authority and of many unjust accusations, brmg me
from Pierre cutting remarks in the manner of Leon Bloy, with an odd
mixture of suffering from injustice and admiration for a temperament
more imperious than his Withal, Pierre was not incapable of generos-
ity, enthusiasm, veneration, which he would readily have converted
into genius if only a little talent had allowed him to make it effective
The penury of his own means would not forgive his colleagues any
success on their part

Mme X , the companion of my captivity, tells me a remark her
daughter made at the age of twelve Since she had shown a curiosity
about where and how children are bom, her mother had not felt jus-
tified in lying to her and had replied quite bluntly “In their mothers

Journal 1943 205

belly ” Some time after, the child had shared her new knowledge with
two gnls of her age, one of the two claimed, fortified by what her
mother had told her that she had been born m a bottle of cologne, and
the second one had issued from a rosebud A discussion ensued, which
one of the parents busy m the next room had happened to overhear
“It is not possible,” the first one maintained, "that roses should produce
children No, roses produce roses, cats produce kittens, mammas pro-
duce little girls, and papas produce little boys ”

The only books I took mto my retreat were Gibbon and Shake-
speare X lends me Ivanhoe , which he has just finished (It just hap-
pens that I had promised myself to read or reread a Walter Scott, but
preferably any other one )

I have a horror for this papier-mache and Viollet-le-Duc style I
seem to recall that The Antiquary is less historical Worth look-
ing mto, for, all the same, there are great qualities of narration and dia-
logue m him, it is understandable that Balzac was fecundated by him

23 April

All night long from ten o’clock on, the distant cannonade made the
ground tremble with a vague contmuous grumbling A sort of anguish,
mortal as well as physical, kept me awake and as if on the watch until
daybreak, trying to imagine the inferno and wondering if it is worse
on the German or the English side

We are living here without electricity and consequently without
any news from the radio, often without water, almost without alcohol
or gas or oil, on our almost exhausted remaining supplies, barely kept
alive by meals that become less adequate every day, brought in from
the outside by the family of the incomparable Flory s wife

24 April

Speak from a distance or else keep silent 50
These lines from La Fontame might serve very well as an epigraph
if I happen to publish the pages of this Journal m America

Malraux certainly did not fail to notice that I mangled the name
of Amenophis or Amenopis (I said Amenopsis) 51 1 did not fail to no-
tice either that he had noticed it, but he was too courteous to correct

50 “Parler de bin ou bien se tarn” is the last line of La Fontaine's fable
IfHomme et U ccmleuvre ( The Man and the Snake)

si in the XVIIIth Dynasty there were several longs by the name of
Amenophis (Amenhotep) Amenophis III (reigned c 1414-1879 n c ) be-
gan constructing the Temple of Luxor

20 6 Journal 1943

me That was two years ago I had promised myself to tell him this, un-
able to do so, I write it here

With no other pastime but reading, my eyes are very tired I ought
to rest them by domg nothing, but I go on just the same, though with
an ever increasing effort

Many are those who are counting on the hour of our liberation for
the 2nd of May Why precisely the 2nd of May? No one knows, but
they assert it so definitely that eventually one almost believes them
The radio announced yesterday, as it was repeated to us, a “general
advance along the whole front from Cape Serrat to Enfidaville

27 April

Umnterrupted grumbling of artillery all night long, a bit nearer, it
seems, than the night before last It is like a tight, coarse-grained weft
on which is superimposed at daybreak the delicate embroidery of the
roosters' crowing One would like to be able to make out whether the
voice of the cannons has a German or an English accent What an in-
ferno it must be over yonder! All that youth mowed down

“Tut, tut, good enough to toss, food for powder, food for powder,
they'll fill a pit as well as better, tush, man, mortal men, mortal men,”
says Falstaff

Can there be a more wretched humanity than the one I see here?
One wonders what God could ever possibly come forth from these sor-
did creatures, bent over toward the most immediate satisfactions, tat-
tered, dusty, abject, and forsaken by the future Walking among them
m the heart of the Arab town, I looked m vam for a likable face on
which to fix my eyes and pm some hope Jews, Moslems, south Italians,
Sicilians, or Maltese, accumulated scum as if it were thrown up along
the current of clear waters, capable, however, of disturbing back-
washes, at the mercy of any agitator, perhaps events will stir it up
anew

But it is two weeks already since I have left my room I am lettmg
my white beard grow, I am waitmg for the liberation before shaving
again Unable to go to sleep until shortly before dawn, but, without
itching and without too much nervous anxiety, I became resigned to
my insomnia and remained with my eyes fixed upon and lost m the
black abyss occasionally broken by distant, fitful glows Last night the
cannonade could not be heard, but during rather long periods of time
the ground was all shaken by a prolonged, as if seismic shudder

What can our friends in France suppose when they hear an “es-
capee” from here announce on the Pans radio that Sfax is devastated,
Sousse destroyed, and that in Tunis “not a stone remains on a stone”?

Journal 1943

28 April

“Whoever at forty is not a misanthrope never loved men,” said
Chamfort (or Rivard?) 52

Yet it is too easy to say to those who profess to love hum ani ty and
sacrifice themselves for it this is because you haven’t really looked at
it, it is scarcely lovable They might well reply you are the one who
has not been able to discover it under its lamentable appearance The
creatures who seem to you commonly abject are deformed, crushed,
and prostrate under the weight of an evil society You who are con-
cerned with horticulture are well aware, however, that there is no
plant so humble that it is not capable of flowering, provided that cir-
cumstances contribute to this, that the ground, one’s care, the cli-
mate Just consider what rosebushes become m bad soil and with-
out sun and attention You accuse people, I accuse only their poverty
and those who caused it and maintain it for their own profit — It is
essential to know whether one is for the greater number or for the
choice few Their interests seem opposed But are they really?

This is not merely a question of humanity, of humamtanamsm, art and
culture are the stake

Fired with enthusiasm by the two Henry TV’s With Henry V I had
to come down a peg It is one of Shakespeare’s least good plays, me-
diocre and even definitely bad m spots, saved solely by the King’s ad-
mirable address before the Battle of Agmcourt

The finest subjects for drama are suggested to us by natural history
and particularly by entomology My Saul 63 was inspired by the odd
discovery I had made of the chrysalis of a hawk-moth, it preserved
its perfect form with the minute indication of the butterfly that was to
issue from it, yet I noted at once that it was not capable of any of
those slight quivermg movements under the influence of tickling which
reveal the latent life of ordinary chrysalises (at least the ones belong-
ing to these butterflies ) At the first pressure of my fingers the fragile
envelope broke, which preserved but the form of the original animal,
under this very thm and fragile sheathing many little cocoons had
usurped all the space, they belonged to a sort of sphex, doubtless
And I did not understand how the original animal, now devoured, had
been able to find strength enough to achieve this deceptive pupation
Nothing revealed on the outside its total disappearance and the vic-
tory of the parasites Thus, I thought, my Saul would say “I am utterly
suppressed ”

« 2 This maxim is found in Chamfort s Journal de Paw, No 178
Gide’s drama on Saul and David was first published m 1903

208 Journal 1943

And I learn this morning that the cateipillais of the Lycasmdae,
after an initial period of vegetanan feeding, are carried off into an
anthill by the ants, who enjo> the bit of honey secreted by their dorsal
papillae just as they do the milk of the aphis But, deprived of vege-
table food, those caterpillars change their diet and soon devour the
entire nest of ant-eggs Too bad for the ants 1 Thus it is and only thus
and only m the anthill that the development of those caterpillars can
reach completion

Amazing "subject” of a drama! Not of a La Fontame fable, but of
a drama, and here is the first act the caterpillar, a future butterfly,
gets itself invited to the ants’ house, all this, naturally, m the world
of men and transposed to our scale

Again in Henry VI (Part I) I find a scene (between Talbot and his
son, Act IV, Scene v) entirely in rhyme from line 16 on Likewise the
following scenes until the end of Act IV Beautiful, but with a some-
what facile sublimity a dialogue almost like that of Corneille

Curious to hear Dorothy B defend this lme

Before the wound would prove incurable

( Richard 111, V, 1 )
or

Vaughan , and all that have miscarried

1 May

Disobeying orders, I went out yesterday without even meetmg
anyone on the stairs, either on my way out or on my way in During
my half-hour I wandered in the neighborhood without any pleasure
broiling sun, heavy air, eveiythmg seemed ugly to me, both things and
people I almost got run over crossing a street No pleasure, pleased to
return to my grotto 54

3 May

The Anglo-Saxons are losing a few positions won by a first advance,
it appears as if their superior numbers are yielding to courage The
Germans feel more involved in this supreme resistance than they are
m the attack

The Eighth Army remains mactive in front of the mountamous
mass of Zaghouan, and the other army has not been able to go around
it Most likely the movements are agreed upon in advance, but do not
always succeed according to plan There is convergence of efforts, to
be sure, but also rivalry, it is thought, and respect for precedence, so

54 Probably a reference to The Poitiers Incarceration Case (1930),
where Gide recorded the sequestered girls strange affection for her "dear
little grotto **

Journal 1943 209

that it would be inappropriate for one general to han est the laurels
reserved for another general or fox the English forces to offend the
American forces, which have hardly distinguished themsehes up to
now Whence procrastmations and delays, which would be hard to
explain otherwise Thus we seek reasons and encouragements in this
exhausting period of waiting

4 May

Fatigued by several nights of sleeplessness, I feel at moments as n
at the end of my tether and aged to the point of despair

I have just reread one aftei another nme of Shakespeare’s ten his-
torical dramas (the only one that remains is Henry VIII) with an al-
most constant admiration I am learning by heart a number of La Fon-
taine’s Fables Stultified, aged feeling my thought at its lowest ebb

Yesterday afternoon the most violent bombing that Turns has
known yet, although rather far from the places that were hit, the
house was quite shaken They began again last night, from ten o’clock
until two thirty, without interruption, an unbelievable number of
bombs fell all around the city The A A reacted but very litde

7 Maij

Explosions and fires m every direction on the periphery of the city
I counted more than twenty fires They are not the result of the Anglo-
American planes The Germans, hunted down, before evacuating the
city are blowing up their depots This is a way of breaking camp
Thick columns of smoke tragically darken the sky

Toward evenmg the fires multiply Heavy black clouds spread over
the city Through the mcessant noise of explosions, strange, incompre-
hensible cracklings of machine guns rather near It is begmnmg to rain
The mam roads whose intersection can be seen from our terrace, so
busy the last two days with the traffic of half-tracks, tanks, and vehicles
of all sorts, are now deserted, they emptied all of a sudden, their si-
lence is impressive

8 May

While I was writing these lines yesterday, the Allies were already
entering the city This is what everyone said yesterday evenmg This
morning, awakened at dawn by a dull, constant, indeterminate sound,
which seemed like the roar of a nver I dressed m haste and soon I saw
the first Allied tanks approaching, cheered by the people from the

210

Journal 1943

near-by houses You can hardly believe that what you have been so long
waiting for has taken place, that they are here, you don't yet dare be-
lieve it What* Without any further resistance, battles, or fighting?

It is over they are herel The amazement increases even more when
we learn from the first of these liberators to be questioned that these
tanks and these soldiers belong to the Eighth Army, the very one that
we thought was held in check m front of Zaghouan, that glorious army
which came from the Egyptian frontier after havmg swept Libya,
Tnpohtama, conquered the Mareth Line and the Wadi Acarit Lme,
and whose progress we had followed from day to day in southern
Tunisia How are they the first to get here? Which way did they come?
There is something miraculous about it One imagined the liberation
and entry into Tunis m many ways, but not like this In haste I close
my bag, my suitcase, and get ready to return to the avenue Roustan
No more reason to hide All the hunted people of yesterday come out
of the darkness today People embrace one another, laughing and
weeping with joy This quarter near the nursery, which was said to
be peopled almost exclusively with Italians, displays French flags at
almost every window Quickly, before leaving my retreat, I shave the
four weeks' beard and go down with the companions of my captivity
mto the street, where they have not dared appear for exactly six
months We enter the wildly rejoicing city

Odd m tins city where every language was spoken, today nothing
but French is heard The Italians are silent, are in hidmg, and one
meets but a few rare Arabs

In General Grraud's proclamation, which is posted on every wall, a
commmatory and inexplicit sentence fills them with fear Their con-
science is not at ease, is that vague threat aimed at them? 55 They are
not hidmg, it might be said, but are m no wise taking part in the
celebration, remaining shut up m the Arab town So that this frantic
swarming of a cheering mob is made up in great part (and m certain
quarters almost exclusively) of Jews Everyone is shouting “Vive la
France As soon as one of the tanks stops, it is surrounded, besieged
by a crowd, children climb m and sit down beside the conquering
heroes And, as if by the sky's approval, all yesterday's clouds have
disappeared, the weather is splendid

10 May

Unable to note anything yesterday I run hither and thither, go to
see friends, mingle with the crowd By evening I am dead-tired, fur-

55 "As for those who abetted the enemy in his work of misery and pam,
they will be pitilessly and promptly punished I give you my formal assur-
ance of this There is no room among us for traitors " [A ]

211

Journal 1943

thermore, electricity is cut off, the Germans having blown up the
power-house before getting out, so that, unable to write, I go to bed
as daylight wanes The sky is uniformly pure Senes of radiant days,
among the finest I can recall, among the finest possible, and the most
innumerably starry nights But the city is still in a state of siege and
all traffic is forbidden after eight p m

Close behind the Eighth Army, the First Army has made its ap-
pearance m the city, together with French forces, Zouaves It seems
that the Eighth cut the ground from under the feet of the First, come
from the Enfida (havmg, however, left a deceptive screen of their
forces in front of Zaghouan), they presumably took advantage of the
breach painfully, dearly, and most courageously opened at Mateur by
the French infantry and American armored units All that will be
known later on and I have no need to note here what belongs to his-
tory

The Germans were surprised by the suddenness of the last ad-
vance The order was received all of a sudden, most unexpectedly, to
clear out, to leave without taking anything but the bare necessities, to
destroy, before leaving, anything the new occupants could take ad-
vantage of, and likewise personal papers and souvenirs It was a fran-
tic flight toward Cape Bon, but many found then retreat cut off,
whence the great number of prisoners A desperate resistance was
attempted at Hammam Lif, and during the whole morning of the 8th
the cannon was heard rumbling, then that last island was crushed by
artillery fire

Yesterday the entire victorious army was drunk Little improvised
bars opened everywhere, where unscrupulous merchants unloaded
their stocks of adulterated products, the Germans havmg previously
made a clean sweep of all the decent wines, liqueurs, and other drinks
Toward evenmg trucks passed by, gathering up and taking back to
their unit s all those who were incapable of standing upright Dragging
on the ground, victory soils its wings

What beautiful weather! A sort of light joy is floating in the air
One breathes freely The daily bread ration has just been increased
from two hundred to five hundred grams a person Milk reappears on
the market Smce people expect supplies in quantity and since re-
strictions are about to end, they finally take their reserve supplies out
of cupboards, open cans, and dare to eat all they want Packages of
Am erican or English cigarettes ram upon us, and bars of excellent
chocolate Each meal becomes a feast One regrets not being able to
hear on the radio, for lack of electricity, the Berlin, Rome, or Vichy
communiques How will this dreadful setback be announced? As late

212

Journal 1943

as the day before, the official bulletins nourished confidence and hope,
spoke at most of a few 4 purely local operations ” I managed to get a
copy of Tunis- Journal for 7 May, suddenly stopped as it was bemg
printed, in which I read “Several Anglo-American actions against the
north and central (sic) sectors were repulsed, the Berlin communique
announces ” Will they try agam to “minimize 5 ’ the importance of their
defeat or will they proclaim general mourning as when Stalmgrad was
recaptured by the Russians? Germany is clever enough to clothe this
defeat in all the colors of victory We could hope for nothing better,
she says, and were well aware from the outset that we had to yield
to greater numbers But we were counting on resisting one month and
we held out for six months, this goes beyond all our hopes The Allies
are congratulating themselves, we are congratulating ourselves more
than they In any event, this liberation of Tunisia, this reconquest of
the entire African coast, must demoralize Germany Already under-
mined by the Russians’ victories, she must already envisage the col-
lapse of her hopes

I am preciously preserving a stillborn issue of “ Die Oase , Feldzei-
tung der deutschen Truppen m Afrika,” dated 9 May!

13 May

Radiant days I sleep m front of the casement wmdow m my
room (opening on a narrow balcony) wide open on a sea of stars, go-
ing to bed very early, I get up at dawn Sleep somewhat bothered by
mosquitoes

Day before yesterday, dined at the Ragus’ with Mme Sparrow,
Hope Boutelleau, and two English officers whom she brought, both
charming I take pleasure m noting their names here as a reminder
Captain Chadbume and Dr Gidal, photographer for the Eighth Army
Perfect agreement, in two languages, with each of them on each of the
points of literature that is brought up Gidal talks to me, with great
perspicacity, of Stefan George, to whom he prefers Rilke, and for ex-
cellent reasons The names of Kafka, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Aldous Hux-
ley, etc , are brought up

The American auto taking us home stops at the “grade crossing”
where the first British tanks broke the last German resistance on the
7th The road is blocked by an endless file of trucks and half-tracks
filled with German prisoners bemg brought back from Hammam Lif,
where, the day before, a dreadful battle was waged before the sur-
render of the Axis troops We get out of the car to watch this fantastic
procession, and, using flash-bulbs, Gidal takes a few pictures of some
of these vehicles they are German "police wagons ” He who expected
to seize others is himself seized I am told that certain groups of
prisoners were singing. Of course* This was the only hope left them

Journal 1943 213

of escaping this nightmare and ever seemg their families again Others
were weeping, it is said I thought that a larger number would hill
themselves or get killed according to orders The Italian army sur-
rendered almost at once as a unit, and that surprised no one The Ger-
man forces, without further munitions, without a possibility of rein-
forcement, without a possibility of retreat and re-embarkation, driven
to the sea and to despair, finally agreed to yield, in the absence of
Rommel himself, von Arnim is taken prisoner

The Berlin or Rome radio, to save face, may well relate that the
Axis armies fought to the last man, to the last cartridge, in a last heroic
resistance That may protect patriotic honor and pride, but it is not
true "Unconditional surrender,” however surprising it may seem, was
accepted almost at once The bitter struggle of Hammam Lif was the
last battle waged, after it all useless resistance ended and von Arnim
sent word that he was surrendering

But, above all, what I am writing here must not be taken to de-
crease the worth of the German troops They gave proof, up to the last
few days, of extraordinary endurance, discipline, and courage, yielding
only to superior equipment and numbers Probably also, m the last
days, to the suddenness of the Allied advance, which is transforming
the retreat mto a rout It is only natural that von Arnim, seemg the
game irremediably lost, wanted to avoid an inevitable and useless mas-
sacre In what I am saying I am taking to task solely the radio s camou-
flage

This African campaign, which was to be triumphal and triumphant,
adds up, for the Axis, to a tremendous loss of men and of war material
Besides, confidence m the Fuhrer will doubtless be considerably
shaken as a result, and the Fuhrer s confidence in himself While all
the conquered peoples now under the German yoke will derive from
this great setback to the oppressor an extraordinary encouragement to
resistance It is possible to hear in it the announcement of a general
collapse

Ragu would like to persuade me of the important role I should pre-
sumably soon have to play here, he claims that I am qualified to as-
sume it I believe he is wrong both about me and about the weight my
voice might cany Even less fatigued, I should not feel in any way
qualified for political activity, whatever it might be Aside from the
fact that I do not understand clearly enough die interplay of nascent
dissensions, I am too uncertain myself to propose some equitable con-
ciliation or other and could not speak without betraying or forcing
my thought I neither can nor will interfere with or take a part in the
struggle that is ahead. I fear that, for a rather long time, bitter rivalries
will divide France, at least the liberated part of her I am totally in-

214 Journal 1943

capable of seeing what “declaration” I might make that, if I remam
sincere, would not be of such a nature as to displease almost equally all
the parties

14 May

From all sides it is reported to us that the American troops, just as
much as the Enghsh or French forces, fought admirably The delays
with which one could justifiably reproach them at the outset were but
measures of prudence so long as they were insufficiently equipped It
was essential not to begin the combat until having full assurance of
being able to carry it through to victory The event dissipated what-
ever doubts might rem am and proved the wisdom of that procrastina-
tion, whereas precipitation might have compromised everything

Dull boredom of an English Sunday in Tunis, the fogs of London
would be more appropriate But the soldiers seem resigned to this
Sunday idleness The two movie theaters that have reopened, not re-
served for the army as during the German occupation, are mvaded by
civilians Still, never before had so many uniforms been seen m the
streets The initial days of drunkenness and rejoicing (when there was
nothing left to sell or to give them but frightful adulterated drinks, the
Germans having emptied every cellar) are followed by a period of
prohibition, based on rigid rules Then there are rows of bare knees
along the sidewalks, on the house steps, on the few benches along the
avenues, tommies who, smiling after all, are discreetly waiting for
mght to fall

Unbearable Tunisian climate, frequent changes in temperature, as
soon as one ceases to be too hot, one shivers, not knowing how to
cover oneself A bad cold adds the finishing touch to my subnormal
feeling I now think only of leaving, but where shall I go?

Amrouche, doubtless, will accompany me first to Algiers, where he
hopes to find a post, with Suzanne Amrouche, he is the one I shall
most regret leaving Then the Ragus, then Victor s grandmother, and
Jean Tourmer, and Amrouche’s friends All have been mdefatigably
kind to me The Florys, Patri, Hope B , Guttierez, Cattan, Mme Spar-
row, Amphoux with them, thanks to them, I went through tbs
time of ordeal almost easily Perhaps the future will allow me to show
them my gratitude Leaving seems to me like an uprooting

19 May

Reread The Tempest, amazed to recognize everything m it so well
Strange drama, which leaves one more unsatisfied than any other by
Shakespeare, probably because no other awakens such lofty demands
Nothing unexpected in these symbol-characters each of them, in order
to represent the better, becomes superlative Once the situation is

Journal 1943 215

established, the action unfolds without trouble, without digression or
hitch. Everything is a matter of course m this exemplary display at
the door of the theater, where everyone, full of his role, adheres to it
and maintains it, as correct as in a tintype Only the relationship be-
tween Ariel and Prospero remains disturbing and devoid of rigidity
“Do you love me , master? No
“ Dearly , my delicate Artel *

It is charming, but it remains a bit brief

20 May**

Great joy upon seeing Jean Denoel agam, but made considerably
gloomy by his tales The French losses were tremendous and due, ap-
parently, to the stupid routine (as in 1914) of certain military leaders,
to their outdated conception of courage, of honor, and of some false
gods or other Some of them led their men to slaughter, without ad-
vantage of any sort and as if m answer to the call of a tradition Mere
common sense should have kept them from launching that attack with-
out artillery preparation, besides, it was clear that it was to be useless
Alas, these are the same men who are in a fair way to govern us to-
morrow It is easy to understand that the hearts of some are filled with
indignation and revolt

Denoel, enrolled m a “surgical unit” and called upon to attend to
a great number of people, and especially of very young children mu-
tilated, m aim ed, gashed by the mines with which the Germans laced
every bit of ground they gave up

I am told that they hid their explosives even in corpses, which ex-
plode m your face as you go to bury them Even more horrible a
wounded man shouted to the ambulance man approaching him “Look
out! Don t come near me the bastards have mmed me*”

22 May

No school edition, at least m those I have been able to see (and I
should be cunous to consult on this subject the big edition of La Fon-
taine I left in Pans, wondering if perhaps it is not more explicit * 7 )
alludes to the most amazing faculty frogs have of swelling up their
gullet like a goiter, like pigeons in the mating season, and of project-
ing on one side of the mouth, as I have seen done by camels in heat,
a sort of huge blister, or growth, a vibrant and yapping apparatus that
is indeed one of the strangest things one can imagine 5a The article

66 In the original this entry is dated * 29 May™ which must be a misprint
w No mention of that peculiarity in that edition either (June 1945) [A ]
ss *‘l n the male, two vocal bladders can issue from a crevice that extends
back to the shoulder, such pouches are sometimes as large as a hazelnut”
Brehm (June 1945) [A ]

2x6 Journal 1943

"Frog” in the big Larousse dictionary makes no allusion to it either
And yet it is that odd characteristic which explains and motivates the
fable of The Frog Trying to Be as Big as an Ox No doubt but what
La Fontame was able to contemplate one day, as I did myself at La
Roque, this extraordinary spectacle on a broad lily pad floating on
the surface of a pond, two frogs illustrating and miming that fable in
exemplary fashion One of them a mere spectator, and the other swell-
ing up to the bursting-point, his way of courting and manifesting his
desire, with oblique glances at the other one

Look carefully, sister l

Tell me, is this enough ? Have I not achieved it?

In the ignorance of this fact, that fable may seem arbitrary and
somewhat absurd This is its justification, which ought to be pointed
out to children to show them that here agam La Fontame pioves to be
an observer and remams close to nature, probably much more than any
other writer of his time

I am not at all among those who rather disdain those first fables
of La Fontame The subsequent ones, more amply developed, have
qmte different qualities, but the initial ones have a density, a weight,
a substance a la Breughel that delights me, and particularly that gem
The Wolf and the Lamb Not a word too many, not a line, not one of
the remarks in the dialogue, that is not revelatory It is a perfect object
But the taste for perfection is bemg lost, and I foresee a time when it
will even cause people to smile indulgently as one smiles at children s
games, when the “quod decet” harmonious ponderation, the nuance,
and art, m short, will yield to qualities of impact and to practical con-
siderations, when the fact alone will matter "Somber pleasure of a
melancholy heart ” 59 it will be all up with you* Here begins the virile
age, the era of reality

22 May

“Yes, we could have entered Turns much earlier, it is true, but at
that time we were not in a condition to maintain ourselves there we
considered that it would be deplorable to run the risk of letting our-
selves be driven out soon after by the German counterattack that
would not have failed to follow almost at once We wanted to act when
we were sure of the result, and preferred to wait and to make you wait
rather than risk inconsiderately our soldiers* lives and yours "

This is what is told us this morning by W , who has just moved up
to the American consulate here and with whom I lunch at the Ragus*

59 “Jusqu’au sombre plamr dun cceur melancohque” is a line from the
next to the last poem m La Fontaine s Amours de Fsychi et de Cuptdon
( The Loves of Psyche and Cupid), Book II

Journal 1943 217

Jean T waited until this last moment to tell me that he doesn’t
think he can lend me more than fifteen thousand francs out of the fifty
thousand that he had led me to hope for

Now this obliges me to turn elsewhere and to put off my departure,
which I had set for Tuesday, letting Soupault reserve a seat for me m
the Algiers plane Even the loan from J T (and, m this emergency,
I reduce it to ten thousand, to his greater relief) is going to require
formalities at the registry office and, because of the week-end (it is
now Saturday), we shall have to put them off until Monday Had I
been informed earlier, I should have made other plans This will teach
me not to rely on too vague promises

23 May

Always frightful mental confusion on the eve of departure You
take leave of friends, and they all want to see you once more This
morning the Amrouches, the Florjs, Pistor, and a captain of the Leclerc
division who wanted to be introduced to me, young Guy Cattan, were
crowded into my room while Bourdil, Amrouche s brother-m-law, was
hastily finishing my portrait I try to find the pleasantest thing to say to
each one of them Meanwhile, while still posmg for Bourdil, I start
with Amrouche a game of chess, which he wms without difficulty, for
I have lost my presence of mind Besides, I have been playing much
less well for some time now and my attention soon wanders And I
don’t know yet whether it is really the day after tomorrow, Tuesday,
that I am leaving, nor at what time, nor what I have a right to take
with me in the plane, nor how nor when the rest of my luggage will
catch up with me How much simpler with death, the sudden com-
mand to leave everything

On cheeking up, I find that I do not leave until Thursday Horrors!
I shall have to repeat all the farewells

I meet Jean T at the registry office The loan must be made m the
presence of the lawyer whom we had already gone to see Reading the
official document that I must sign, in which I learn that I shall have to
begin by subtracting from that sum of ten thousand francs five hun-
dred francs that go to the state for legalizing the transaction It is im-
plied that I shall have still other expenses for registry or something of
the sort, without counting the lawyer s fee so that, of those ten
bank notes, I shall retain but nine . This is ridiculous I refuse to
go through with it The game is called off The few hundred-franc
notes that I still have will be enough till I get to Algiers, where I shall
take the necessary steps

Captain Alaurant asks me timidly to write a line m his travel diary.

218 Journal 1943

and I shall do so most willingly, happy to express in this way my ad-
miration for the lofty achievement of the Leclerc division, which he
symbolizes in my eyes After that heroic crossing of the Fezzan and
their victorious advance, no sooner arrived in Tunis and back m civil-
ized life than he has his car stolen, with all his effects, his supplies, his
papers, etc I accompany him to the Residence to inform Sou-
pault of his case and, if possible, to help him recover his car

Soupault very kindly takes both of us to d me at the mess, together
with Lieutenant Benard Soupaulfs charm, wit, and adaptability put
everyone at ease Only at moments some cracks in the conversation
provide a glimpse of the profound political divergences under the
cordiality of the remarks

Algiers

So at last I have left Turns! On this Thursday, 27 May We left the
El Aouina field at seven o'clock, the tap, which was to last but two
hours, took more than twice this, with stops at Zaghouan and at Le
Kef I had not slept all night, and after a choppy tap I reach Algiers
m a rather lamentable condition The charming welcome of the Heur-
gons and an excellent lunch instill new life m me

Great joy upon finding Saint Exupery

In our old world the Americans get themselves liked by everyone
everywhere With such a ready and cordial generosity, ever smiling
and so natural, that one gladly accepts being obliged to them

“Make yourself liked” was the watchword launched by the German
newspaper m Tunis during the beginning of the German occupation
The newspaper (which was not for sale and circulated only within the
army) added “even by the French * This watchword did not succeed,
any more than it did in France itself, and was soon replaced by “Make
yourself feared ’ Behind the feigned politeness, one remained too well
aware of the need to dominate, which their smile did not succeed in
camouflaging

At the Heurgons* I yield to the intoxication of a new library, read-
ing one after another a little Leopardi, then a little Dante, then a little
Stendhal, then a little Virginia Woolf wandering at random m a gar-
den*

Before writing an affectionate inscription in it for Amrouche, I re-
read this morning my Tentative amoureuse , into which I put much
more of myself than I remembered All in all, a little book that is very
revealing of the epoch ( even excessively so) and of myself eo

90 The Attempt at Love was first published m 1893*

Journal 1943 219

Add, as a postscript to my notes on Christ’s last words Have these
remarks ever been made before? I don’t know But I do know that I
have never read them anywhere 61

It is high time to change notebooks*

5 June

17 June

“But those masters” (David, Gros, Guerin, Girodet), “too much ex-
tolled m the past and too much scorned today, had a great merit
of beginning to restore m the French character a taste for heroism*”
(Baudelaire, Exposition Universelle de 1855 )

Algiers , 26 June

I dined, then, yesterday evening with General de Gaulle Hytier,
who accompanied me, had come to pick me up m a car at about eight
The auto took us to El Biar, directly to the villa whose terrace over-
looks the city and the bay We moved into the dining-room almost at
once and took our places, Hytier and I, on the two sides of the general
On my right sat the son (or the nephew) of General Mangm, I did
not catch the names of the other guests, two of whom were in civilian
clothes, all of the generals entourage We were eight m all 62

De Gaulle’s welcome had been very cordial and very simple, al-
most deferential toward me, as if the honor and pleasure of the meet-
ing had been his People had told me of his “charm”, they had not ex-
aggerated at all Yet one did not feel in him, as one did excessively in
Lyautey, that desire or anxiety to please which led him to what his
friends laughingly used to call “the dance of allurement ” The general
remamed very dignified and even somewhat reserved, it seemed to me,
as if distant His great simplicity, the tone of his voice, his attentive but
not inquisitorial eyes, filled with a sort of amenity, were such as to put
me at ease And I should have been completely so if I did not always
feel m the company of a man of action how remote the world I in-
habit is from the world in which he operates

I had just read with very keen interest, and why not say with
admiration, many pages by him that were excellent, even capable of
making one like the army, presenting it not as it is, alas, but as it ought

61 See, for instance, The Journals of Andre Gide, Vol HI, p 36
02 Jean Hytier recalls that the two civilian guests were Gaston Palewsla
(1901- ), who was named director of de Gaulies pnvate cabinet in July

1943, and Rene Pleven (1901- ), then Commissaire aux Colonies after
having organized the colonial resistance in Africa, he has been several times
Minister since 1944 and in July 1950 became Premier

220 Journal 1943

to be Reminding him of the remark he quotes to the effect that Jellicoe
had all the qualities of Nelson save that of knowing how not to obey,
I asked him how and when, m his opinion, an officer could and should
take it upon himself to disregard a command He replied most appro-
priately that this could only be at the time of great events and when
the feelmg of duty entered into opposition with a command received
Some of the guests then entered die conversation to compare military
obedience to the obedience required by the Church One could have
continued much further than we did The conversation soon dropped
and I did not feel strong enough or m the proper mood to start it
anew

After the meal the general suggested to me that we take a little
walk on the terrace This amounted to offering me the opportunity of
a private conversation, and I took advantage of it to speak to him at
some length of Maurois In the general s writings a sentence had some-
what surprised and hurt me, I told him, the one m which he states
that he met Maurois only once and hopes never to see him again I
tried to explain Maurois s attitude, which, I said (and this was going
rather far on my part), would have been very different if he had been
better informed I added his eyes will soon open when he talks with
the friends who are at present expectmg him here Maurois is wrong
because he has been deceived He thinks it is his duty to remam faith-
ful to the marshal, and he is all the more inclined to think so because
that duty pams him and, in actmg thus, he is settmg all his former
friends against him

The generals features had stiffened somewhat and I am not sure
that my rather vehement defense did not irritate him (Less sure, and
this is worse, that my arguments were all valid, it seemed to me after
having seen Maurois again )

We spoke next of the advisability of creating a new review to group
together the intellectual and moral forces of free France or those fight-
ing to free her But this was not earned very far either He then told
me how much he suffered from the lack of men

"Those who ought to surround you,” I told him, "‘are, alas, under the
wooden crosses of the other war ” One has to play out the game with
the hand one has The trumps are not numerous

We joined the rest of the company again and all went back into
the drawing-room The rambling conversation began to languish and
I think everyone was grateful to me for breaking up the gathering
soon I thought sadly of what that interview might have been if Valery
had been m my place with his competence, his clairvoyance, and hrs
extraordinary presence of mind

l had spoken to the general, during our brief private conversation,
of the resistance in Pans and particularly of that session of the Acad-

221

Journal 1943

emy in which Valery opposed addressing congratulations to the mar-
shal as some academicians proposed The general was thoroughly in-
formed about it all

He is certainly called upon to play an important role and he seems
"up to it " No bombast in him, no conceit, but a sort of profound con-
viction that inspires confidence I s hall not find it hard to hang my
hopes on him

27 June

Some English officers back from Pantelleria bring us details about
the surrender of the little island It is untrue, they say, that the island
was running short of water, of food, and of munitions In the Italians'
place, we would have resisted for six months, perhaps a year Sheltered
m deep caves, the small civilian population and the military defense
could have held out as we held out at Malta, and the number of vic-
tims of the bombings was negligible (not more than sixteen, they say)
Everything that has been said on this subject, according to them, is un-
true, except this that the rock of the island is so hard that the most
powerful bombs merely scratch it The defending forces surrendered
through lack of endurance, because they had had enough and knew
that a longer resistance on their part would be useless, because they
had lost all hope

Algiers, 7 July

Chariot has lent me the December 1942 issue of the Nouvette Revue
Frangaise , m which I enjoy reading an excellent article by Fernandez
on Tocqueville I do not enjoy underestimating an adversary and I
should have liked to be able to think better of Dneus article and
Chardonnes Dialogue 63 1 made an effort (but In vam), for it is absurd
and unbecoming to see intelligence, honesty, courage, and nobility all
on one side, your own, and on the other side nothing but cowardice,
stupidity, or disloyalty Consequently that systematic debasement of

33 The article by Ramon Fernandez, inspired by a new edition of
Tocqueville's Souvenirs, ends thus “ this book provides the occasion
and model for those solid and subtle reflections which used to guide public
kfe and of which we have lost the habit through the exaggeration of modem
propaganda " Dneu La Rochelle's article, entitled “La Fin des haricots 9 *
(‘The End of All") , deals with the writer as a political leader and his political
responsibility, incidentally it ridicules the French war effort Jacques Char-
donne's “Dialogue” discusses an imaginary dialogue with the Germans, who
axe exaggeratedly praised “It is not only the Occidental man of the present
who as threatened," says Chardonne, “Germany is defending his past and
his roots against the horrible coalition of the Bolshevik Russian and the
American, those two bastards of Europe And if life has a meaning, victory
wall go, not to the greater number or to the power of machines or money,
but to the superior man ”

222

Journal 1943

the adversary, toward which propaganda too often strives, is extremely
painful to me I have often expressed this, but, I believe, without con-
vincing an yone And I now have come to the point of wondering
whether, m order to elicit certain reactions from the crowd, it is not
necessary first to discredit the enemy Perhaps, but personally I can-
not take part m that game This is in great part why I am so ill adapted
for politics and am so hard to convince of the role that I might assume
in the “psychological war ”

8 July

Here are new issues of the N R F (January and February), con-
taining a very interesting and satisfying Bilan by Dneu 64 and a re-
markable Lamennais by Fernandez The review, altogether, is holding
up, despite the absences, as well as possible To be sure, I am glad to
have withdrawn from it, but I recognize the cogency of many of
Dneu s arguments My heart much more than my reason disapproves
them and I was not far from subscnbmg to them, but I think that I
should have rapidly and bitterly reproached myself for having done so

Idleness, from which I should suffer more if I felt within me any-
thing whatever to say that I have not already expressed and better
than I could do today I expect from events no profound modification
of my bemg But the intense curiosity I have about them comes from
the fact that the very justification of that bemg, its foundation, yes, its
raison tfetre, are at stake in this dreadful game

It does not seem to me that one can correctly speak (as the radio
does) of a “fierce defense”, this word must be reserved for attack 04 05 06

04 “Balance-Sheet” by Dneu La Rochelle begins by summing up the
achievement of the Nouvelle Revue Frangaise during the two years of his
editorship and then turns to a justification of his political position “I am a
fascist because I have measured the progress of decadence m Europe I
have seen m fascism the sole means of limiting and reducmg that decadence

disapproving of the intrusion of empires foreign to our continent such
as those of the United States and of Russia, I have seen no other recourse
than in the genius of Hitler and of Hitlerism ” Russia strikes him as the only
effective military force among the Allies and at the same time as the age-old
enemy of Europe, against which Hitler alone can protect the Continent If
he loses, says Dneu, Russia and the United States will eventually clash and
fight to the bloody finish of all Europe

Fernandez’s article on Lamennais was inspired by Claude Carcopmo’s
study of 1942

05 Although the word “ acham has pnmanly an active connotation, in

conjunction with “defense? it would normally be translated as “stubborn” or

Journal 1943

223
15 July

Little Edith Heurgon is beginning to walk Never before had I had
an opportunity to witness this marvelous sight the first steps of a little
child Supported until now, he begins to realize that he can stand up
without aid and advance alone Humanity has barely reached
this point, still staggering and seized with dizziness at the thought of
the space to be covered, not fully balanced, not fully weaned from
the milk of beliefs

17 July

Lavish light, splendor The summer asserts itself and forces each
soul to happiness I cannot keep myself from adoration, from joy
Every thin g is a nuptial urge and one would like to embrace a god
This is the season when Pasiphae goes to meet the bull in the meadow
Last night Diana covered Endymion with her whiteness

The day before yesterday, explosion in the harbor, it was a freighter
loaded with munitions that blew up The loudest detonation I have
heard A very large number of victims Hangars on the quai next to it
caught fire, as did a ship filled with fuel oil, which darkened the pure
sky with torrents of thick black smoke after the huge mushroom of
yellow vapors thrown up at first by the explosion

19 July

By the suffering I felt at not being able to approve the things that
were done and said m the name of France I was able to measure my
love for my country

Called upon to sign a wondrously bound copy of the Nourritures
terrestres (the big edition called a la Gerbe, “revised and corrected by
the author”), I am amazed to discover at the first glance that it is
richly studded with crude typographical errors, often making sen-
tences incomprehensible or ridiculous In five minutes I pick out half
a dozen of them And I wonder if the same errors are found in the
edition of my complete works “Plandtes” for “plantes”, “pics” for
“pins,” etc

25 July

A passable night, though still interrupted by rather frequent awak-
enings, is enough to give back to my mind some of its liveliness Dis-
posed to work as in the blessed days of my youth- But such nights are
rather rare, most often I get up at dawn only half rested, fearing fa-
tigue and effort The obstacle comes especially from the useless con-
gestion of my brain, from anxiety not to fall behind, not to be m ar-
rears, not to fail in any obligation ... It is only when free of all

224 Journal 1943

foreign preoccupations that one can create a work that matters I feel
bound, claimed, mortgaged, through and through

9 August

I have just read LTntSr&t gSndral 66 to the Heurgons (in three eve-
nings, for my voice gets tired very rapidly) Very pleasantly surprised
to find my play better than my recollection of it, influenced by the un-
favorable judgment of the friends who had read it I do not think I
shall have to disown that work over which I have labored so long and
which has given me so much trouble It seems to me that it can brave
the stage, and I do not despair of seemg it staged during my lifetime,
if the present torment is not prolonged too much I prefer not to pub-
lish it until afterward, unless this would mean waiting too long, but I
think that it at least deserves to be published I should like to offer
it to the Com6die-F rangais e rather than to some experimental theater
where it might seem too subversive At the C omedie-F r angaise I think it
would keep the appearance of a comedy of character, as I claim it to
be, as it is, whether successful or not, rather than that of a social satire
(as it aimed to be at first, and this remams its weak pomt, for I have
not been able to efface altogether all the traces of that first disastrous
intention)

11 August

The beginning of Chapter xxxvm of Henri Brulard implies it rather
clearly Stendhal was not, strictly speakmg, “musical”, what he liked
was singing, “bel canto ” or more exactly, the beautiful smger, not the
music He confesses “I have no taste for purely instrumental music”,
but he most unwisely adds “Solely vocal melody seems to me the
product of genius *

Alexandrines are extremely rare m Saint-Simon I notice this upon
discovering two a very short distance apart

“mats non pas tout , ni quand et comme elle voulatt
“et priparer ainsi la perte ou la fortune
at the end of two consecutive paragraphs This is the result of chance
Generally, no style is less musical than his, or less concerned with

06 Robert or The Common Weal , a five-act play by Andr6 Gide, was
written originally as a social satire in 1934-5 and, translated into Russian,
was about to be played in Moscow when his Return from the USSR ap-
peared Completely rewritten in 1938-40 as a comedy of character, it was
first published in 1944-5 in Numbers 5-8 of V Arche and later issued as
Volume VI of Thedtre complet dAndrS Gide (NeucMtel Ides et Calendes,
1949)

67 “but not everything, nor when and as she wished
“and thus prepare loss or good fortune ”

Journal 1943 225

grammatical or syntactical correctness, m him everything yields to the
movement of passion, of thought He is not at all embarrassed to write
"Every type of amusement was forbidden in Vienna and strictly ob-
served”, and that sort of bold anacoluthon is very frequent m him
(For the thing that is "strictly observed” here is the prohibition and not
the amusement ) The thing suggested indirectly m one sentence sud-
denly becomes the very subject of the next sentence By virtue of the
very incorrectness and the surprise that this provokes, this often has a
marvelous effect Each sentence, each word, lives, vibrates, gets out of
hand, preserving the mark of his impetuous genius

It is characteristic of a bom writer to bend language to his own pur-
pose, but no one ever did so with such offhand boldness or for a hap-
pier result

Let us leave it to Italy to leam at her expense what it costs to fight
on the side of Hitler

Fez , October

The old ivy upholds the wall, which had long upheld it

Thought a great deal of Sheng Cheng-hua these last few days, with
a smarting recollection of that awkward, absurd sentence with which
I must have hurt him so cruelly at our last meeting How could he have
explained it to himself when I cannot explain it myself and fail to see
m it an evidence of ill will, of spitefulness, which was certainly very
far from my heart

I had received from Cheng two charming long letters, filled with
emotion and inspiring emotion, which I have preciously preserved and
hope to find some day in Pans I owed to my books the feelings he
manifested toward me For Cheng was very cultivated Still very
young, he had come from China to Paris for his education, but had not,
I believe, mingled much with the students, who must have seemed
rather vulgar to him, to judge from the refined delicacy of his own
manners, from his reserved and charming discretion One felt him to
be from an excellent family, and how out of his element he must have
felt among us!

He had come to announce to me hxs marriage, to teH me that he
wanted to introduce his young wife to me before returning to his dis-
tant country By what aberration, what confusing bewilderment, what
slip of the tongue, did I then ask "You have naturally maimed a
Japanese?” I saw the expression of his features change at once, his
smile disappear, his lips tremble He stammered A Japanese!

Oh, Monsieur Gide, how can you ” The harm was done, I could
not recall that unfortunate word, which I tried in vain to explain, to
excuse I had recently frequented a number of Japanese, who had just

226 Journal 1943

filmed my Symphonie pastorale, whence, doubtless, that sudden and
temporary confusion, utterly unforgivable I immediately realized that
I had dealt our nascent friendship, so trusting on his side, a perhaps
mortal blow, and I have not forgiven myself for it even today

What has become of him? Shall I ever see him again? If I write
down these lines, it is with some hope that they may some day come to
his attention and that he will know that the memory I still have of him
is as it were preserved m my heart

Fez , October

Si Abdallah, converted to Islam and a Sanscrit scholar, gets me to
read the books of Ren 6 Guenon What would have become of me if I
had met them m the time of my youth, when I was plunged into the
MSthode pour arrvoer & la vie bienheureuse 68 and was listening to the
lessons of Fichte in the most submissive way possible? But at that time
Guenon s books were not yet written Now it is too late, the die is cast
My sclerosed mmd has as much difficulty conforming to the precepts of
that ancestral wisdom as my body has to the so-called “comfortable”
position recommended by the Yogis, the only one that seems to them
suitable to perfect meditation To tell the truth, I cannot even manage
really to desire that resorption of the individual mto the eternal Being
that they seek and achieve I cling desperately to my limits and feel
a repugnance for the disappearance of those contours that my whole
education made a pomt of defining Consequently the most obvious
result of my reading is a sharper and more definite feeling of my Oc-
cidentahty, in what way, why, and by what means I am m opposition
I am and remain on the side of Descartes and of Bacon None the less,
those books of Guenon are remarkable and have taught me much,
even though by reaction I am willing to recognize the evils of Oc-
cidental unrest, of which war itself is a by-product, but the perilous
adventure upon which we thoughtlessly embarked was worth the
suffering it now costs us, was worth being risked Now, moreover, it
is too late to withdraw, we must carry it further, carry it to the end
And that “end,” that extremity, I try to convince myself that it is good,
even were it achieved by our rum I should probably need the “com-
fortable” position m order to bring my thought to maturity Mean-
while I am persevering in my error, and I cannot envy a wisdom that
consists m withdrawing from the game I want to be “in it” even at
my own expense

68 The tide Method for Achieving Blessed Life is not mentioned in Henn
Bremond's eleven-volume Literary History of the Religious Sentiment m
France , though it may well represent such a document as Christian Method
for Endmg One’s Life in Holiness and Making Oneself Happy in This
World and the Next, by a Priest of the Mission of St Frangois de Sales

Journal 1943

227

Fez, November

What would have happened if Everyone is free to fashion im-
aginary events m his own way and according to his own opinions,
whence facile convictions This is what puts me on guard against His-
tory and urges me to prefer greatly “natural history,” m which we have
a constant check on facts and can always refer back to them, in which
the “if” becomes an instrument of experiment, allowing new observa-
tions Who, for instance, would dare to maintain that the butterfly is
the same creature as the caterpillar if the fact of the metamorphosis
had taken place but once?

Anti-Barr es I note m The White Devil by Webster (first scene)
We see that trees bear not such pleasant fruit
There where they grew first , as where they are new set

In Hamlet , from one end to the other of the drama, nothing bolder,
nothing more skillful, than that sort of shiit which takes place from
scene to scene by which each decisive action on the part of Hamlet is
preceded by a sort of try-out of that action, as if it had some trouble
fitting into reality Already at the very beginning of the drama, in the
dialogue with the ghost, then in any one of Hamlets ways of behav-
ing, toward his mother, with the King, with Ophelia first he out-
lines the action, awkwardly And we find tins everywhere, in the
double apostrophe of greeting to the players, so disconcerting, yet less
so than the pantomme preceding the performance of The Murder of
Gonzaga Before the successful realization, there is always a failure

25 December

I cannot maintain the criticism I made of the use of “fai lieu
de ” which struck me as improper Corneille makes a wonderful
use of it This morning I read in Sertorius

Vous navez aucun lieu de Hen examiner

(Act I, Scene i)

Odd use of the word “movndrd*

De sulvre les drapeaux dun chef mmndre que vous

(Act I, Scene 1 )

Ils Malent plus que rois. Us sont momdres quesclaves

(Act III, Scene 1 )

The English and the French have never more clearly defined their
differences (and I was about to say their opposition) than in their
drama As a foil to Corneille's drama, I am reading The White Demi

See supra, p 1 SS.

228 Journal 1943

and The Duchess of Malfi by Webster (already read m French some
tune ago), then The Broken Heart by Ford I am amazed that the sur-
realists do not stand in admiration before The Duchess of Malfi , whose
excess of horror seems designed for their liking, and all those ingredi-
ents of phantasmagoric sorcery

I ceased keeping my Journal since leaving Tunis and feel no desire
to resume it, but I should at least have noted my readings

In German Don Carlos, several tales by Gottfried Keller ( Spiegel,
das Katzchen seemed to me the best) 70

I should have liked to take advantage of my idleness here in order
to plunge into Gibbon again, but the edition offered by Brown’s li-
brary is much less good than Guizots (m the Tunis Public Library),
ennched with notes and most interesting commentaries

Reread David Copperfield (which I remembered remarkably, any-
way), but it is not my favorite among Dickens’s novels He seems to
me to have outdone himself in Great Expectations and to be at his
best in the nightmare of Martin Chuzzletoit, he cheapens himself in
my opinion when he tries to flatter his public by a display of facile
sentimentality In the horrible he is almost the equal of Dostoyevsky,
and that is when I prefer him He does not amuse me at all in Pick-
wick

Stevenson’s Kidnapped somewhat disappointed me on rereading
Large amount of Conan Doyle during the period of profound de-
pression at the beginning of my stay here (Fez) Some of those Conan
Doyle novels are rather ordinary, but there are others ( The Valley of
Fear and especially Elias B Hopkins , The Parson) much superior to
what I had reason to hope

In that series of gardens beneath the Medma forming a sort of lake
of verdure in which a single house (Brown’s, which I am occupying) is
lost, I saw the orange harvest, it followed the even more beautiful
harvest of pomegranates, then the Arundo donax, those huge plumed
reeds which edge the roads and form thick gardens m summer were
cut, and suddenly the enclosures lost their mystery But after the first
rams the barley germinated under the olive trees, and never had a
more captivating color been seen except perhaps that of the last linger-
ing leaves on the grapevine under the broad glassed-in bay where I
sat working or trying to work, they blazed and turned incandescent
before the rain suddenly dulled their splendor

Not only the cutting of the reeds but also the falling pf the leaves
now allows one to see the ground, which dunng the summer was hid-
den by a thick tangle of foliage In winter everything proves to be
simpler than one thought

T0 Mirror, the Kitty Don Carlos is Schiller’s play.

Fez, January

p

Aotted pork, -pate, cold cauliflower with French dressing, as much
butter as one wants Allice shad, mashed spmach with hard-boiled egg,
boiled potatoes Knuckle of ham (excellent) Jams and cake
This (or the equivalent) is what I find served at my table every day
I should be satisfied with a third And Si Haddou excuses himself for
not being able to vary the menu more Very good wine, and since the
water is not sure and typhoid is to be feared, I drink the wine straight.
After each meal, an infusion

Needless to say, I touch but a few of all three dishes For instance,
at noon today, having taken some alhce shad, I left the knuckle of
ham, which I am delighted to see again this evening Ham is an excep-
tion to Si Haddou’s self-imposed rule never to serve left-overs I repri-
manded him on this point, but achieved nothing

The sad thing, when faced with so many and such excellent things
to eat, is to be alone at table For Si Haddou joins m the meal only
when some guest is with him and it would not be gracious for him to
withdraw But ordinarily he remains away, through discretion, mod-
esty, and fear of being in my way After the noon meal he appears for
a moment, just long enough to ask me whether I do not want to “walk
up to town”, after the evening meal he comes to wish me good-night

Who could tell with what attentions he surrounds me? It is impos-
sible for me to desire anything but what he gets it for me at once He
tries to divme my tastes in order to forestall my least desires Every
morning, before going to the fonduk, he asks “Do you need any-
thing?” And on returning from the fonduk “May we do your room?”
for he accompanies Mohammed in his household duties and never lets
him make my bed alone for fear that I may not be quite comfortable

I reproach myself for not doing sufficient honor to the meals, exces-
sively copious, m which he contrives to offer me all the best and rarest
things he has managed to find But I am not a heavy eater and adapted
myself very well to the scarcity m Tunis or to the monotonous meals of
Rabat But the inappreciable thing for me here is the constant warmth
maintained in the room where I spend the whole day by the small
stove, which I fill and light every morning on getting up, which I light
again as the daylight wanes, and for which the sun substitutes in the
afternoon The kindness of M Robert, the farmer friend of Si Haddou,
furnished me with a superabundant supply of firewood and of vine
stubs My sensitivity to cold has become such that, without this means
of I should probably not have been able to get through the

winter.

230

Journal 1944

Every day I take myself by the shoulders and force myself to
go for a walk, sometimes rather long Unfortunately the outskirts of
Fez are scarcely inviting and discourage curiosity the country is all
open and does not even offer the surprise and amusement of new
plants Everywhere the same little marigolds, which began to flower
m about mid-January, clumps of scilla, of which nothing is left now
but clusters of leaves I still walk along at a good pace, but get tired
quickly

The example of Cardan, whose autobiography I am now reading
m a German translation, urges me to speak more of my health The
condition of my liver and kidneys has greatly improved by itself and,
altogether, I should be very well were it not for this tendency toward
a cold and an almost constant hoarseness The most unsatisfactory
thin g is sleep Every evening I go to bed m apprehension of the few
hours of anguish, often really painful, that I shall have to live through
before being able to go to sleep And agam I am tormented by itch-
ings, often unbearable, the whole length of my legs or between my
toes As for my mind, I feel it to be as active as in my best days, and
my memory, which I am diligently exercising, has never been so good,
at least for the poetry I am asking it to retain, for I believe that for the
little details of life it is weakenmg, this is partly because I grant them
less and less importance

On my walks I always take along a book, but it often happens that
I return without havmg opened it, having preferred to let my mmd
wander aimlessly or to recite, all along the way, the most recently
learned of La Fontame’s Fables (of which unfortunately I find only
the second volume here) La Mott et le mourant , La Fille , Les Sou -
hatts , Les Deux Arms , Le Faysan du Danube , Le Rat qui s 9 est retire
du monde , Le Rat et Fhuitre , the long Discours & Mme de La Sab -
here, which opens Book X, and the fable of Les Deux Rats , which fol-
lows it 1

In the garden of the Villa Brown the lavender ins have been m
flower for the last twelve days, recently, a few rare jonquil-narcissus,
in the wild state, oxalis, fumitory, ansarum, hawkweed, this is all, I
believe

Reading is invading the hours that were filled, even last week, by
the polishing and typing of the extracts from my Journal that I am
giving to V Arche, which are to appear immediately afterward in a

1 “Death and the Moribund? m The Girl? m The Wishes? “ The Two
Friends? “The Feasant from the Danube? “The Rat Who Withdrew from
Society? “ The Rat and the Oyster? * The Discourse Addressed to Mme de
La Sabhere? and “The Two Rats, the Fox , and the Egg? figure in Books
VII-XI of The Fables

Journal 1944 231

volume published by Chariot 2 3 I am reading especially German and
English, but have just devoured one after another eight boohs by
Simenon at the rate of one a day (this was the second r eadin g for
Long Cours , Les Inconnus dans la maison , and he Pendu de Saint -
Phohen) *

1 have long ceased to keep my Journal (since I left Tunis, for I
consider as naught certain pages in the interval) This was m great
part because of the unbearable square-ruling of the last notebook
(there were no others to be found), which forced me to write my lines
too close together But each time that I resume my Journal after a
rather long interruption, I should like it to be in a somewhat different
tone, and yet not an unnatural one, as when one changes interlocutors
And furthermore, I should like indeed not to repeat constantly the
same things Now, I long ago looked at myself from all angles, at least
it seems so to me, and have inventoried my spiritual furnishings No
further great discoveries to be hoped for from introspection Events
will take care of providing me with the element of surprise and I
remain extremely curious of what is going to take place

An attempt at a Moroccan nationalist msurrection, which seemed
rather threatening, has just failed, it seems, it miscarried Certain de-
mands that were made seemed to me justified and I hope they will be
taken mto account De Gaulles position is strengthened thereby, I
believe, both m regard to the Sultan and in regard to Churchill, and
the meetmg at Marrakech has had a most happy effect

Fez, 29 January

Feeling, as I wrote the day before yesterday, my mind as alert as
on the best days I believe to be an illusion, which I can maintain only
so long as I do not put my bram to the test, I should soon see, with
use, that, like my body, it gets winded much more quickly As if to
mock my presumptuousness, I was seized yesterday with one of those
sudden fatigues which leave me for a rather long time almost in-
capable of effort either physical or intellectual And nothing, abso-

2 The monthly literary review V Arche was founded in Algiers m late
1943 under the patronage of Andr<§ Gide, with an editorial board consisting
of Maurice Blanchot, Albert Camus, and Jacques Lassaigne, Jean Amrouche
was editor-m-cbief The first issue appeared m December 1943 and was at
once compared to the former NouveUe Feme Frangatse In 1945 V Arche
was transferred to Pans, where it continued to appear until the summer of
1947 The Algerian, later also Parisian, publishing house Chariot published
the review

3 Ocean Voyage, Strangers m the House, and The Hanged Mm of Saint-
Pholien are all novels

232 Journal 1944

lutely no thin g, can explain the feeling of exhaustion that I then ex-
perience The only thing that keeps me from getting alarmed over
such weaknesses is that, more or less violent and prolonged, I have
always been accustomed to them During my youth they were accom-
panied by headaches, from which I completely ceased suffering subse-
quently But already as a mere child my uncles and aunts used to call
me “the erratic one,” attributing to whims my apparent changes m
mood, which were due merely to the variations of my inner tempera-
ture, if I may express it thus, or, as people would say today, of my
pressure For I remain, on the contrary, very constant m intention
But how bothersome it can be in any undertaking not to be able to
count on oneself What a fear in commitments' This is what makes me
flee society people and keeps me at a distance from the world, despite
the often very keen amusement I take m frequenting my fellows (and
even more, I believe, those who differ from me)

2 February

Matters are getting worse m the Medma of Fez Arab scouts and
Senegalese have been called out to quell the nationalist insurrection
that has been threatening for several days The insurgents hurled them-
selves in great numbers with cudgels and side-arms against the Senegal-
ese, who shot at them On both sides some were killed The official
figure is one hundred victims

In view of the isolation of the Villa Brown, where, besides, the
telephone has been cut off, we considered it prudent to decamp Guy
Delon (Si Haddou) consequently moved to the fonduk I accepted the
land offer of shelter that had been passed on to me from M Robert,
the very likable farmer who had already provided the wood for the
stove at the villa The atmosphere of his family and of the three para-
chutists on leave whom he is lodging is altogether comforting and I
could not wish for anything better

The air here is much keener than m the gardens around the Villa
Brown and m the foothills below the Medma The wind blows with-
out obstacle on the vast plain where the Roberts’ farm is placed (and
it is impossible to say why it should be here rather than there) Large
orchards of almond trees (all very distinct varieties, some with partic-
ularly beautiful broad flowers) and of olive trees, under which graze
large flocks of Astrakhan sheep and pigs Many tiny orange-colored
mangolds Very few other plants are at present in blossom, aside from
a few rare narcissus At times one sees little white stdtbirds (“ox-
peckers”) join the flocks Landscape without drama or surprises, but
beautiful in its extent and its profuse light I go back somewhat chilled
to M Robert s office, to read and write, comfortably seated beside a
fire iff vine stubs and eucalyptus logs

Journal 1944 233

It is reported to us that yesterday the insurgents at Rabat were for
a short tune masters of the French city, where they carried about on
the end of a pike the severed head of a sixteen-year-old French youth

At Fez itself the revolt is not completely smothered and new
clashes are expected The gates of the Medina are closed and guarded
by the Senegalese This makes a sort of covered pot m which dis-
content simmers Deprived of water, electricity, and food supplies, it is
hoped thus to force them into submission and lead them to terms

6 February

After several almost sleepless nights I make up my mind to use the
new soporific that Denoel had sent me from Rabat, hypalene, 4 which,
besides, did not begin to act until very late, after a long period of very
painful anguish Deprived of sleep, I am not good for anything The
gears of my brain get choked up, the springs of my will relax But upon
issuing from the fountain of youth that sleep is for me, I am not
too much aware of my age and can believe myself to be still hale
The outer world recovers its savor for me and I take a new mterest
m life

During the hours of sleeplessness I go over this or that senes of
verses, beginning for instance Tns, je vous louerais ” 5 and am not
satisfied until I reach the end That fear that my memory may fail me
urges me to keep it in training without respite A sort of avance is in-
volved in this, which differs only in its objective from the need that
the old feel to hoard, after all, just as ridiculous, just as useless Feel-
ing everything slip away, one clmgs to trifles But almost as much as
the miser s false treasures, it remains external to oneself and is not in-
tegrated

If I had not abandoned the piano. The Well-Tempered Clavichord
would be better than La Fontaine 3 s Fables , closer to serenity

Been to see The Mom Is Down, based on Steinbeck's novel Excel-
lent film in the mam and for long episodes One of the best I have seen
for a long tune Certain dialogues are remarkable and as exemplary
as one could wish They irresistibly raise the question would I be
capable of heroism? The way m which the mayor of the little Nor-
wegian village achieves it strikes me as utterly correct psychologically,
and everything he says is perfect

4 Hypdbne, a product of Laboratoires S I T S A., is a combination of
barbituric acid with other ingredients, but with no narcotic agents.

e “Ins 1 should praise you” is the opening hne of La Fontaine's "Dis-
course to Mme de La SabMre ~ at the bead of Book XtfMs Fables; it con-
tains more than 170 lines.

234 Journal 1944

Denoel appears to be greatly affected by the appendix to Attendu
que , 6 and I am affected in turn, not by that appendix with the
too conspicuous title Dieu, fils de Thomme, but by the sorrow it causes
him And yet I cannot regret either having written those pages or even
having divulged them What I have expressed in them is close to my
heart, and in regard to the religious question I can be neither “in-
different” nor merely skeptical It is as a “believer” that I speak and
that I set up my reason against their faith Abandoning my reason, I
should doubtless easily recover certain emotional accents that would
touch Denoel as much as those of my Numquid et tu PI know
how to achieve them, I have the recipe for that false profundity
Every cry of distress finds an echo m pious souls, every recognized
need for supernatural help Every cry such as “O Lord, save us or we
perish*” What separates us from such souls is the claim, which they
consider impious, of domg without divine aid Denoel foresees m it a
drymg-up of lyricism To him that sort of smugness of the soul seems
antipoetic And doubtless m the “shadows of Faith” lyricism readily
spreads its wings But the lyric state is not far from seeming to
me a childish state, which the adult soul somewhat scorns I could still
lend myself to that game (and I should even be perhaps caught in it),
but this could not be without some pretense and some sort of dis-
honesty

7 February

An order has reached me to return to Algiers at once The telegram
comes from the Ministry of the Interior a precise and urgent sum-
mons constituting an official mission, with which I must comply I
had not taken quite seriously an earlier telegram from Amrouche,
calling me equally urgently I thought that, considerably worried
about my fate and exaggerating the danger of the uprising, he, as a
fnend, wanted to provide me a way out, leaving me free to take advan-
tage of it if need be On receiving the second telegram, I went to see
General Suffren, and this morning I am informed by telephone that
arrangements have been made for me to return to Algiers tomorrow
evening by the plane which will come to get me at Meknes So be it

6 Considering that , published in Algiers by Chariot in 1943, con-
tained much of the material issued the same year as Intermews imaginaires
(Imaginary Interviews) in Pans, Yverdon, and New York editions plus two
dialogues entitled “Dieu, fils de Vhomme** (“God, Son of Man”) Those
dialogues were subsequently included in the New York edition of Pages de
Journal , 1989-1942 (Pantheon Books, 1944) They express Gide’s mature
and personal religious credo

Journal 1944

235

8 February

No pleasure in being back in Algiers, but great delight on finding
the Heurgons and Jean Amrouche The latter came to meet me at the
distant airfield of Maison Blanche I was chilled despite the radiant
sun Slept during a large part of the flight, which seemed to me in-
terminable From Fez I had gone to take the plane at Meknes, where
General Suffren’s car had taken me Having arrived much too early
at the airfield, I was able to talk at length with the new official ( I don’t
know his title) who regulates the departures, he had arrived the day
before from Agadir to assume his new duties Victim of an accident to
a mail-plane on the Toulouse-Casablanca line (I believe), which
turned over and then caught fire, Felix (this is his family name) man-
aged to save the mail, but got out of it himself only with \ ery serious
burns During eight months in the hospital the constant attentions of
a surgeon (I am angry with myself for not having noted his name)
made him by successive grafts a new and acceptable face and a sem-
blance of strange hands, with which "I can do everything,” he says
with a smile of subdued pride That was twenty years ago “In the be-
ginning all that was left of a thumb remamed stuck to the hand There
was no resistance left, you see It took more than two months to sepa-
rate it But later on Well, just put your finger there” And he
pinches my index finger m a sort of nutcracker He laughs “I can even
type with this”, and he pomts to the remains of a finger emerging
slightly from the stump “Just enough ” Then he adds "What vou see
there are the nails ” They form a bizarre squama in the middle of the
back of his hand

Then he tells me of his sons, eight and ten years old "Oh, they are
strapping fellows, you can take my word for it And well brought up,
I assure you The older one already has twenty hours in the air Good
little boys And because of them it is worth while gomg on kvmg ”

"I hope they are proud of their father,” I say

"Oh, as for that, they re very fond of me

Sudden and profound liking such as I often experienced m Russia
I leave him with tears m my eyes

Denoel had sent me an issue of Confluences , in which I have been
able to read Mauriac’s article on Charlie Du Bos, which he had told
me about 7 My mind refuses to accept such mystical assertions It is
not lack of understanding on my part, but refusal to assent and pro-
test in the face of that “flattering error” which “sweeps away our souls, 5 *
and m which I am too much aware of the self-mdulgenee Copeau

7 “Charles Du Bos and His Creator," a nine-page article by Maunac,
appeared in No 25 of Confluences ( September-October 1948)

236 Journal 1944

and Charlie made it possible for me to understand the subtle trap that
selfishness or pride can set for us with holmess as a bait

I find here The Moon Is Down by Steinbeck, which I am reading
avidly All the best of the dialogues has been put into the film, which,
for many reasons, seems to me better than the novel

What calls me back here is a dispute about V Arche between Am-
rouche and Robert Aron They are counting on me to settle it, to cut
it short if need be First I must inform myself, listen to the disputants,
read the copies of the letters they exchanged, consult various out-
siders It is endless

Compared with Lucretius, Virgil seems honeyed and too full of
grace Harsh strength is not natural to him, he seems rather stiff in it
and thereupon readily indulges m rhetoric As soon as he lets himself
go, it is toward the affectionate mood Then he is charmingly suave
But what a masculine energy in Lucretius, what austere nobility m his
impiety, m his undaunted free thought* Understanding him much
better than I dared to hope encourages me to return to Latin

Excellent preface by Bergson

20 February

It seems that the Americans are repeating in Italy the same errors
as m Tunisia Enough to make one wonder whether experience ever
teaches much to anyone, so that each time the lessons of experience
lose out to accustomed routine and especially to the prompting of
temperament

One follows one’s first footsteps
On the first occasion 8

Just as at Tebourba, their army on the way to Tunis could have
entered by surprise (it was asserted), so it apparently advanced all at
once to Frascati, then instead of gomg on unexpectedly to Rome, it is
said to have waited, accordmg to orders or some rule or other, and
let pass the extraordinary opportunity Forced to withdraw subse-
quently, the Germans having recovered from their surprise At least,
tins is what is reported by people back from the front, who seem to be
well informed

They speak also of a certain bridge south of Rome that it was sup-

8 Von reprend sa premiere trace
A la premikre occasion

These lines are from La Fontaine's fable “Le Loup et le renardT ("The Wolf
and the Fox' ), which is Number 9 in Book XU.

Journal 1944 237

posed the Germans had blown up, so that the advance guard had re-
ceived the order (so it is said) to await the arrival of the engineers
before crossmg the river The engineers were to rebuild the bridge But
it so happened, as luck would have it, that the bridge had remained in-
tact But that didn’t make any difference! The army obediently waited
just the same The engineers did not come along until four days later,
during which the German artillery had plenty of time to blow up the
aforesaid bridge

Let it be added that the very bad weather bothers the invaders
much more than it does the Germans, entrenched in positions prepared
long ago In short, they are not advancing It is all more costly than
had been foreseen, and now there is talk of using as reinforcements
certain troops that were being saved for the landing in France, and
this would require that landing to be delayed

I am limiting myself to reproducmg here some echoes of “opin-
ion ” At most I shall add that it strikes me as rather sensible, on this
point at least

On the way to Gao, 3 April
Maison Blanche Waited in vain for the happy accident that would
have kept me from leaving Raynaud and Monze accompanied me to
the airfield, whence we take off at 7 30 Very cloudy sky

I must have dropped off for scarcely a half-hour, and already we are
flying over an utterly different country sand-colored, covered with
strange signs, with a sort of mysterious writing, inhumanly and in-
comprehensibly beautiful, elementary, nothing living or even merely
vegetable mars it

930

Blue-white sky It is beginning to be sumptuously hot Half-hour
stop at El Golea Conversation with two very likable mail and radio
direotors of that place One of them comes from the Congo Beautiful
harmony of the palm trees on the pure sand, it gives me a sensual
pleasure to encounter this again

Arrival at Gao at about five thirty (Algiers tune) One has to turn
one’s watch back two hours to agree with the sun

Unable to note anything during the tap Flew over a stupefying
landscape Almost mystical beauty

At Gao everything is swooning with heat After sunset the ther-
mometer goes down but a few degrees, not below 96° except a few
hours before dawn, the only moments in the day when one can
breathe

Neglected to bring along qumine, whence fever for the first three

238 Journal 1944

days The light would be unbearably bright without these Zeiss sun-
glasses that Captain Morize gave me The pith helmet, which I was
nevertheless advised agamst bringing, is equally indispensable

The waters of the Niger are at their low-water point, and the vast
river now offers but a number of tmy shallow arms, which the flocks
ford at nightfall Summer spreads out over the plain Incapable of
movement, of will, of thought, I let myself be annihilated before that
profuse splendor

Excellent hotel, which I leave only for the shade of the market
arcades, where the natives display unknown spices, pungent-smelling
aromatics, numerous odd commodities Naked children hold out their
hands, offer their smiles, the trusting and naive felicity of their eyes
Beauty of the women The unconcern of paradise Strangeness

The meals are excellent, served out of doors m the large courtyard of
the hotel The menus observe the Good Friday fast At dinner the in-
sufficient lighting does not allow me to make out very well the dessert
that the tall Negro waiter offers me I question him, and, very dig-
nified, imperturbable, he replies “Des pets-de-nonne " 9

A very pleasant lady, who has just got out of the plane here on her
way back from Fort Lamy, says to me “Oh, Monsieur Gide, you wrote
in one of your books a little sentence that I constantly repeat to my-
self in the difficult moments of my life (they are many) One must
never close a door altogether ” To this I can but smile in rather silly
fashion 10

Gao

Large white-bellied guinea hens, definite crossbreeding, since a
little later I see completely white ones Many small and very tame
finches (?) In the trees (silk-cotton trees) the martins known as
“gendarmes” hang their nests from the branches (the entry is from
the bottom) I observe them at length with one peck they clip off
the buds and cut all the new shoots, not surprising if the trees, after
such treatment, are so puny and wither away I am told also that the
too dry wmd scorches their foliage

They did all that tn their power lay
and then fell unheralded
Victory had been theirs today

9 Literally meaning "nuns* farts," this is the traditional name for delicate
sweet fritters

10 Gide never wrote such a sentence But as an epigraph to Book II of
Les Caves du Vatican he had used these words of the Cardinal de Retz
“Since one must never deprive anyone of the possibility of return "

Journal 1944 2 39

had all on them depended
For they did what in their power lay
through hardships uncounted*

Giving their bodies— ‘nay*
their very souls undaunted.

AH is over Gone are they *
their names unrecorded
Such love in vain cast away ?

No, it cannot be wasted*

But rather , beyond their survey*

God 1$ formed of these new-dead 11

I cannot succeed m despising the joys of the flesh (and, besides,
scarcely try to) A mishap to the plane that was to take us back (a
providential mishap, I shall say) allowed me to enjoy one of the keen-
est the evenmg before last, all my memories of Gao radiate around it
Had I carried quinine with me and taken some at once, I should
doubtless have held up better, but I was unable to find any until the
third day, that is to say that the land Mme Pmson was good enough to
give me some

Algiers , SO April

I find in Rabelais, whom I am reading with assiduity and for the
first time from beginning to end, these words of Gargantua (Chap-
ter xlm)

* „ True military discipline forbids you to make the enemy des-

perate That only revives his spent courage and increases his strength
The only salvation left to disconsolate and exhausted soldiers is to be
denied all hope of salvation How many victories have been wrenched
out of the victors" hands because they lost control, sought wholesale

11 Us ont fait tout ce quils ont pu
puls soot tombes sans glotre
St rten qud eux il n etit tenu
on etit eu la victoire
Car tis ont fart ce quils ont pu
restant des jours sans botre
Mats bien plutdt* qud leur tnsu
de leur dme iris mdntoire
< Ten est fait Us ont dtsparu

sans Imsser de nom dans Thistoke.
Tant d amour en vain rdpandu?

Non* fe ne puts le croire.

Mats bten plutdt* qud leur tnsu

Dim se forme de leur mSmofre.

240 Journal 1944

carnage and destruction to the last man? Rather open all possible ways
and roads to the enemy, build them bridges o£ silver as avenues o£
escape ” 12

Words that seem very wise and that probably would have been so
at the conclusion of the last war, but one doesn’t dare quote them
today, so incapable of improvement seem the Germans

Montesquieu ( Grandeur et decadence , Chapter 11) speaks admi-
rably of that "negligence resulting from victory ’ against which it will
be essential to forearm ourselves

"What makes wolves emerge from the woods? Lack of meat” (Ra-
belais Third Book , xiv )

44 Preferring [the Romans] to consider the whole nation crim-
inal and assure themselves a useful revenge w (Montesquieu Grandeur
et decadence. Chapter vi )

Today, 21 May, I finished ThesSe 13 There still remain large parts
to rewrite, and particularly the beginning, for which I had not yet
managed to find the proper tone But now the entire canvas is covered
For the past month I have daily and almost constantly worked on it,
in a state of joyful ardor that I had not known for a long time and
thought I should never know agam It seemed to me that I had re-
turned to the time of Les Caves or of my Prom£thee Furthermore, ex-
alted by events and the recovery of France The friends surrounding
me here have been perfect I owe them much and without them should
never have been able to bring my work to a happy conclusion I should
like to dedicate my Thesee to each of them m particular (besides, they
are not numerous), as a sign of my gratitude 14

I also owe much to the beautiful books of Charles Picard, to those
of Glotz, so sensitively intelligent (to mention only the modems) 15

Among the Greeks, as among the Hebrews, wherever the for-
eign element mingled most intimately with the native element, in
Attica as in the tribe of Judah, there was formed the cream of the na-

12 This and the following quotation from Rabelais are taken by kind
permission from the translation by Jacques LeClercq of The Complete Works
of Rabelais (New York Modem Library, 1944)

12 Theseus was not published until 1946, first in New York (Pantheon
Books) and then in Pans

14 Indeed, when the work appeared, it was dedicated severally to Anne
Heurgon, to Jacques Heurgon, and to Jean Amrduche

15 Charles Picard (1883- ), known as an authority on pre-Hellemc

religions, has written extensively on Crete, as has Gustave Glotz (1862-
193S), professor of Greek history at the University of Paris and author of
The JEgean Civilization.

Journal 1944 241

tion* (Glotz Greek History, p 286 ) Most interesting remark and of
wide application

Nothing amuses me so much as work, not even the noble game of
chess, m which I get beaten every day by Jean Amrouche Delighted
to learn that Minos was already addicted to it, if we are to belie\ e the
archaeologists

“In those days of old, Minos was at ease and the gods were
cramped” (Glotz, p 560 )

“Sometimes they [the Romans] would make a peace treaty with a
prince under favorable conditions, and when he had fulfilled them,
they would add others such that he was forced to begin the war again ”
(Montesquieu Grandeur et decadence , Chapter \i )

The young people who come to me in the hope of hearing me utter
a few memorable maxims are quite disappointed Aphorisms are not
my forte I say nothing but banalities, nothing but platitudes to them,
but, above all, I question them, and that is just what thev prefer talk-
ing about themselves I listen to them and they go away delighted

“No state so greatly threatens others with conquest as the one that
is m the throes of a civil war Then everyone in it becomes a
soldier

“ Furthermore, m civil wars there are often formed great men
because m the confusion those who have merit stand out, everyone
places himself and assumes his rank instead of being placed, and often
quite wrongly, as in other times ” ( Montesquieu Grandeur et deca-
dence, Chapter xi )

Finished Le Tiers Livre Lucien Leuwen , which I had long been
p lannin g to reread, seems to me superior to La Chartreuse and to Le
Rouge et le noir, as to its beginning at least, 16 for after the first pages
are passed (and they could not be more captivating}, one gets lost
m a thick tangle of conventions (because it is essential to combat them,
but why are they not simply omitted, overridden?) Annoying like
Marivaux

“He [Lucien] did not have enough vanity for the vexation of being
afraid to give him the courage to ” (p 222)

Labyrinth of psychological preciosity

i« The Third Book by Rabelais is the sequel to Gmgmtua and Prnta-
grueL Lucien Leuwen is by Stendhal, the first part of it has recently been
translated by Louise Var&se as The Green Huntsman

242 Journal 1944

"In a free state in which the sovereignty has just been usurped,
everything is called a rule that can establish the unlimited authority
of a single person, and disorder, dissension, bad government are the
names of everything that can maintain the reasonable freedom of the
subjects” (Montesquieu Grandeur et decadence , Chapter xrn )

"There is no more cruel tyranny than the tyranny that is exercised
under cover of the laws ” ( Chapter xiv )

“Justinian, who destroyed those sects by the sword or by his laws,
and who, forcing them to revolt, forced himself to extermmate them,
let several provinces go to waste He thought to have increased the
number of the faithful, he had merely decreased that of the living ”
(Chapter xx )

Allied landing in Normandy

6 June

Tvpasa , 12 June

I am fimshmg, in great gulps. Sense and Sensibility , less enthralling
doubtless than Pride and Prejudice or than Emma (as far as I can re-
member), but with an admirably deft draftmanship and perfectly fill-
ing its frame Comparable to certain portraits by Ingres, or rather by
Chassenau The sky is rather low, rather empty, but what delicacy in
the depiction of sentiments! If no major demon inhabits Jane Austen,
on the other hand a never failing understandmg of others The element
of satire is excellent and most delicately shaded Everything takes
place in dialogues, which are as good as they can be Certam chapters
reveal a perfect art

Finished, the same day, Malraux’s La Lutte avec Tange, 17 in which
I recognize what he read to me at Cap Martin, in other words almost
everything I had hoped that he would bring his narrative to a more
nearly perfect state There is still much to criticize in it and, however
gripping it may be, it is still very far from what it might have, and
ought to have, been Often, too often, he does not use tie words that
are called for, and many a sentence remains so imperfect, so ambigu-
ous, that one would like to rewrite it or else say to him what as a child,
he relates, he would have liked to say, hidden behind a desk in the
Academy, to the "Great Writers” "Come now! Begin that over again,
now” I could cite many a sentence whose syntax is indefensible
(among others, the one with which the father's notes begm, I stumble
on it just as much on a fourth reading as on the first, and the descrip-

17 Malraux s unfinished novel, The Struggle vuxth the Angel , bearing the
sub-title of The AUenburg Walnut-trees > first appeared in Switzerland in
1943

Journal 1944 243

tion of the first men carrying the gassed men out of the conta mina ted
zone) The excessive use of abstract terms is often prejudicial to the
narration of action One must not try simultaneously to make the
reader visualize and make him understand

I plunge mto Twelfth Night, forsaking The Longest Journey, in
which I cannot manage to get sufficiently interested Last month I
patiently read Howards End, of which I retain almost nothing but a
great esteem for Forster

Without being too impolite, I should like to take leave of myself
I have decidedly seen enough of myself I no longer even know
whether or not I should still like to begin my life over agam, or else, I
should do so with a little more danng in affirmation I have sought
much too much to please others, greatly smned through modesty

25 June

Odd example of anacoluthon that I encounter in Buffon ( The
Eagle) “He is too heavy to be able to carry him, without great fa-
tigue, on ones wrist ”

It was with her that I had promised myself to achieve happiness
For each of us two the drama began on the day when I was obliged
to realize (and when she realized likewise) that I could accomplish
myself only by deviating from her Yet she did nothing to draw me
backward or to hold me back, she merely refused to accompany me on
my impious way, or at least on what she considered to be such

Ever ready to belittle herself, to efface herself before others If
the word “modesty” did not exist, one would have to invent it for her
Never was she heard to say “As for me, I

Where have I written that La Fontaine “rhymed meanly” or some
such asimmty? To be corrected He rhymed perfectly, if I don t
mind

“I am at ease with myself only when I am doing my duty ” (Dide-
rot Lettres & Sophie Volland, 8 October 1760 )

This is very well said, but the trouble is that one doesnt always
know what one’s duty is

For the last few days I have been applying myself to Latin agam,
with much more pleasure and much less difficulty than I should have
thought, and reviving my first raptures by going over agam rapidly the
second book of the JEneid It seems to me that I understand everything
much better than I did then And I now hold the key to Latin verses

244 Journal 1944

it is enough to place the accents properly, without too much concern
for the longs and shorts, then everything comes naturally It is simple
Why was this not taught me at school mstead of trying to teach me
when a syllable is strong or weak, which comes out quite naturally
when the verse is properly scanned? But it is first essential to get rid
of that absurd habit, which was still prevalent then, of pronouncmg
Latin words “in the French manner” — that is, by always putting the
accent on the last syllable, which distorted everything

I give about three hours a day to Virgil While walking, I con-
tinue reading Humphrey Clinker , and in the intervals, Rabelais’s Quart
Ltvre 18

5 July

As soon as Siena is liberated. General de Montsabert rushes there
to offer his army corps to St Catherine I leave it to others to consider
that gesture sublime As for me, I think it must have made some very
ill at ease, Jews as well as Protestants or skeptics The skeptics might
have taken part with amusement m what seemed to them a mere pre-
tense But I can imagine an ardent Protestant refusing that gift of his
soul, over which his general has no right Will he then be banished
from that society, considered as a renegade and a traitor? And
now those young men are divided who hitherto rushed toward victory
with a common impulse I expect other examples soon of a compromis-
mg bigotry, which will not fail to make certain mmds rise up m re-
volt

I receive Peace and War , the official publication of the documents
concemmg “the foreign policy of the United States” from 1931 to 1941
That publication closes before the revival of France Ones mind re-
views with amazement the various stages of that extraordinary story
Mussolini’s vaulting lack of restraint and overweening conceit dragging
the Italian people along m his rum prefigures the fate of Hitler and
the German people They are still resistmg, whereas the former are
bitterly crestfallen What Shakespeare will some day portray the im-
mensity of this disaster?

It is essential for the salvation of humanity that Germany should
feel the wind of defeat flatten her out At the time of the preceding
war, through that serious error of not carrying our victory to the very
heart of Germany, the Germans did not feel conquered It is essential
for the future that the smugness of that arrogant people should be
crushed and that the oppression of force should be made known to

18 The Expedition of Humphrey Clmker (1771) is by Tobias Smollett,
Rabelais’s Fourth Book continues the adventures of Pantagruel.

Journal 1944 241-

those who, through force, claimed to dominate the spirit “Et debellare
superbos 99 12

It is often when it is most disagreeable to hear that a truth is most
useful to utter, and when it might encounter the keenest opposition
But there is often danger m not blowing with the wind

Fatal doctrine of autarchy Presumptuous absurdity! Needing one
another was the great harmonious strength of the Argonauts Not one
of them was “sufficient unto himself ”

Vicit iter durum pietas 20

Of how many men may it not be thought that it is through medioc-
rity that they are good!

Sabotage of the pronunciation of our beautiful language by the
radio announcers Is there no one to tell them that it is mappropnate
to say “Hol-landats, vote fer-ree”? Let them consult Littr6 and they
will see how one should pronounce 21

Probably one has to have run the nsk of losmg those acquired and
transmitted possessions m order to appreciate their importance All that
seemed due to us which we had inherited without trouble, and we no
longer knew that those whose heirs we were had won it in open com-
petition and often at the price of their life

I am reading with great interest and profit John Stuart Mill's treat-
ise On Liberty , which Raymond Mortimer sent to me through the
offices of the very land Gill, with Mills Autobiography and The Mem-
oirs of a Justified Sinner by Hogg, one of the most extraordinary books
I ever read 22 I bless Mortimer for having mtroduced me to it Can
it be that it has not yet been translated? And if translated, that it is
so little known? I should like to get Roger, Maunac, Breton, Green,
and many others to read it 23

Every day, two or three hours of Latin Sallust or Virgil

13 "And to tame m war the proud * Virgil. JEnetd, VI, 854

29 “Love has vanquished the toilsome way * {Mnexd, VI, 688 }

21 The doubled consonants in these words should be pronounced as if
single

22 In the original the words “I ever read” appear m English

23 Gide did indeed write a provocative preface for The Private Memoirs
and Confessions of a Justified Sinner , which added interest to the repubhca-
tion (only the second in a hundred years) of that psychological thriller
(London Cresset Library, 1947} and prompted its translation into French.

246 Journal 1944

15 August

Yes, it is indeed a liquidambar (I was able to get close to it) whose
flowers I was admiring m the next-door garden, under the windows
of my room Why so rare, that charming little tree?

bonum publicum simulantes pro sua quisque potentia certa -
bant 24 ( Sallust CattUna , XXXVIII, S )

Great fatigue of the eyes, which forces me to limit my readings

Read especially Latin of late, some progress, but I must still almost
constantly have recourse to the translation (Sallust and Horace) Re-
read for the tenth tune Polyeucte , exasperation now dommates admi-
ration 25

Algiers , 5, 0, or 7 September
Having nothing to do, my mind empty, my eyes tired Never
yet has a wait seemed so long to me, and doubtless just because events
are occurring in rapid succession A special order for Rome is to reach
me soon and send me to Italy, when it is m France that I should like
to be already, that I could be Ah, how eager I am 1 I fear I may
not have enough breath at the last moment to climb that final slope,
not have time left to embrace the few people whom I should neverthe-
less like to see again before closing my eyes forever Six times a day at
the radio I listen to the same news I had already read m the morning
newspaper, as if my attentive impatience could hasten events

The best hours m the day the three or four that I spend m the
company of Sallust or of Virgil, whom I already understand much
better and, at times even, almost without difficulty

14 September

And Warsaw? Not a day passes without my thinking anxiously
of its agony Its sufferings mvolve untold and untellable things, some
underhanded political interests withholding the needed aid

19 September

Strange use by Mauriac of the verb atteindre . <c ses tuyaux at -
teignent & sahr mime un clair ctel de prmtemps ? 26 already encoun-
tered in Le Batser au Upreux And I find agam m PrhSances (p 181 )

24 " under the pretext of working for the public good, everyone
strove to gain power for himself ”

26 Polyeucte is Corneille's tragedy of the early Christian martyrs
26 PrSseances, p 71 [A ] the factory chimneys go so far as to

soil even a dear spring sky ”

247

a aucun

Journal 1944

“St mime tl attemt & me comprendre * and p 248
moment elle natteigmt d se crier une illusion

2 October

Ene Allegret, back from Pans m six hours by plane, brings me a
large bundle of Paris papers They date from yesterday and the day
before, and we marvel at having such recent news

Unfortunately not Paulhan s Lettres frangaises , which would in-
terest me above all 28

Excellent article from the Manchester Guardian (28 August 1944)
reproduced (without cutting, I believe) by the Documents de la qutn -
zame 29 which are sent me (Concerning Mr Edens policy ) "Some
think that after this war Germany will give up the ambitions which
led her to such a catastrophe It is certainly more likely that the Ger-
mans will give less thought to their defeat than to the series of vic-
tories that brought them so close to success ” Etc I am saving the
article

Read by Mauriac one after another Le Baiser au lepreux. Prese-
ances , and Les Chemms de la mer I had previously read Le Nceud de
vtperes 30

Then I plunge again into Caesar’s De Bello Galltco

After Sartre’s remarkable “Le Mur* (which, besides, I recalled very
well, one could not forget it), I reread “L’Enfance dun chef ” Reread
next “La Chambre” which I thought I preferred, but no, I set the two
others even above it 31

10 October

I am awaiting with apprehension my call to Pans, where many of
those I should have taken the most pleasure m seeing agam will not
be, I fear, where I shall encounter nameless and numberless difficul-

27 “If indeed he reaches the point of understanding me * and “

at no moment did she succeed in imposing an illusion upon herself*
might tr ansla te these unusual uses of the verb, which generally can be ren-
dered by “reach,* “attain,” or “achieve * The Social Hierarchy (1921) and
The Ktss Bestowed on the Leper (1922) are both novels

28 Pounded in clandestmity by Jacques Decour and Jean Paulhan, who
had been editor-m-chief of La Nouvelle Revue Frangatse from 1926 to 1940,
Les Lettres frangaises appeared openly as a weekly literary journal immedi-
ately after the liberation of Pans

29 Fortnightly Documents

“ Roads to the Sea (1939) and Vipers’ Tangle (1932) are novels

si “The Wall,” “The Childhood of a Leader,” and The Room” are short
stories in the collection Le Mur (1939) by Jean-Paul Sartre

248 Journal 1944

ties, troubles, and fatigues that I don’t know whether I shall be strong
enough to bear, any more than the inevitable cold I am not risking any
project and filling Rightfully empty days as best I can with the assidu-
ous study of Latin and with reading

11 October

Great pleasure on seeing Vildrac again, with whom I lunched yes-
terday at the home of the very land Mondzams The conversation
went on afterward until almost six o’clock Vildrac seems to me to
apply to events a very reliable and unprejudiced judgment, something
that is becoming extremely rare at present

According to Ehrenburg, literature is a “combat weapon ” And soon
p aintin g too, I suppose, as it already was m the USSR Not a canvas
in that exhibit I saw at Tiflis that did not have an educative and edify-
ing (I was about to say edificatory) meaning, nothing but daubs, but
active ones and which in their eyes were probably more valuable than
all the productions of our gratuitous art Their sole justification lay in
their timeliness

28 October

After Sallust, finished Caesar’s De Bello Gallico I now have got to
the point of understanding Virgil better, almost easy to reread, but
often very hard to decipher (Eveiy day a minimum of four hours on
Latin ) I glance through Quintus Curtius with great amusement

Activity or passivity in the practice of love distinguishes men much
more than the very object of their desires

The motto of Hitlerian Germany “Man hat Gewalt, so hat man
Recht” remark of Mephistopheles toward the end of the Second
Faust 82

Virgil Certain passages hard to decipher I want to get to the pomt
of at least rereading him readily

After a certain age one does not so much choose one’s friends as
one is chosen by them

Laws and censorships compromise freedom of thought much less
than does fear Every divergence of opinion becomes suspect, and all
but a very few rare minds force themselves to think and to judge
“properly”

88 “One has power, therefore one is in the right.”

Journal 1944

249

12 December

“Who cares about the ravings of solitaries!” exclaims M Gilbert
Mury m an article agamst Montherlant ( Action of 27 October 1944)
The Nazis do not think otherwise O Dante* O Pascal* And we see that
vicious doctrine infecting the minds even of those who claim to be op-
posed to it

Yesterday 11 December, finished the complete reading of the
JEnetd (without skippmg a smgle line) and immediately afterward I
reread at one sitting Book VI, easily, almost readily, with delight

13 December

Then, rather disheartened by Ovid, I plunge into the Georgies
Did Virgil ever write anything more perfect than certain long pas-
sages? And even, in connection with the most practical advice, so many
wonderful lines in which feeling and spirituality animate and magnify
even the commonest gesture

Pater ipse colendi

Hand facilem esse viam voluit, primusque per artem
Movit agros , curis acuens mortaha corda
Nec torpor e gram passus sua regna veterno

(I, 121-4 ) 38
22 December

I read, at random, the short introduction to Denis de Rougemont’s
Journal dAllemagne It could just as well serve as a preface to my
Pages de Journal Yes, that is precisely right I even rather like what
he says of “timely stylizations,” against which the smeere notations of
the intimate diary are opposed, which “translate the relations of an
individual with collective passions ” And he adds “Tomorrow perhaps
there will be nothing but manifestoes, epopees of propaganda ” And
that “tomorrow” is today

On page 24 of this book D de R speaks of one of his students who
is preparing a study of Barres and writes “ The earth and the dead is
almost the Blut und Boden of the Nazis ” I should say!

ss “The father himself has willed that the path of husbandry should not
be smooth, and he first made art awake the fields, sharpening mens wits by
care , not letting his realm slumber m heavy lethargy ”

Algiers, 5 January

D

I J enda’s BelphSgor is far inferior to La Trahtson des clercs 1 The
most disconcerting confusion throughout the book, not mdeed m the
ideas the author sets forth, but in the choice of windmills at which he
tilts He quotes the best and the worst one after the other and seems
to attach as much importance to Aurel or Tancrede de Visan or Jean
Florence or Bersaucourt as to Nietzsche or Claudel No discrimina-
tion, everything is grist to his mill, this greatly harms his thesis I have
fought the same dragons as he If he had deigned to read me a little
more carefully, he would have been aware of this, and I dare believe
that my Enfant prodigue, my Porte etroite or my Symphome pastorale
have done more, for instance, against Belphegor than the unmethodical
battue of his treatise But he does not like to be helped Everything is
game to him, and whoever accompanies him on his hunt is likely to get
some lead in his rear In my writings he could find abundant sentences
to justify his ideas (like the very spirit behind those writings) He pre-
fers to pick out only the things to which he is opposed

Why, m preference to the paltry lines of Gondinet
Why am 1 saddened by the song of a dove.

By a wilted flower or a falling leaf P 1 2
does not Benda quote Hugo’s lines, which seem written for his thesis
The sighs of an oboe or the sound of rustling leaves
Fix my mood for a day s ?

He speaks excellently of the Comtesse de Noailles, but why doesn’t he
mention Francis Jammes?

As for what he says of society “salons” that is just what keeps
me away from them

1 Belphdgor Essay on the A Esthetics of French Society m the First Half
of the Twentieth Century (1919) aims to prove that “French society of the
present asks works of art to make it experience emotions and sensations, it
has no intention of denvmg any sort of intellectual pleasure from t he m ”
The Great Betrayal, as La Trahtson des clercs was entitled in Ttnglant? (The
Treason of the Intellectuals in the United States), first appeared in France
m 1927 and is the most widely known of Benda’s books

2 Powquot suis-je attnstee au chant dune colombe.

Pour me fleur fanee, une feuille qui tombe
are lines from Act I of the opera LdkmS, of which the libretto was written
by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille

8 Ten ai pour tout un jour des soupirs d’un hautbois,

D'un bruit de feuilles remu4es,
are lines from Hugo’s poem “Enthusiasm” in Les Orientates

15 January

The USSR I should astonish many people by telling them
that there is probably no country m the world where I should more
like to return (aside from "wild” countries, virgin forest, etc )

Some think that I have a bad recollection of the trip I made there
(in 1936, I believe) and that the two pamphlets I subsequently pub-
lished are the result of a disappointment, this is absurd 4 I wrote them
in the same way and in the same spirit as I pointed out, on my return
from the Congo, the colonial abuses that had sickened me down there
And those who became angry over my criticisms of the USSR were
the very ones who had most applauded when the same criticisms were
directed against the by-products of "capitalism ” There they admired
my perspicacity, my need to disregard camouflage, my courage in de-
nouncing In Russia, they suddenly said, I had been incapable of
understandmg anything, of seemg anything And if some admitted the
justice of my observations, at least they considered them untimely At
most a few imperfections were admitted among comrades, but the time
had not yet come to speak of them One had to realize the over-
all success and close one's eyes to the temporary, inevitable defi-
ciencies

Outside of those "deficiencies” I liked everything there Nowhere
yet more beautiful landscapes, nor, to inhabit them, a people with
whom I felt more readily in a state of sympathy, m a state of com-
munion (though I did not speak their language, but it seemed that
that mattered little, so easily was that sympathy established through
looks and gestures)

I am speaking of the people, of the "masses”, for what made me
suffer there was seemg the social classes taking shape agam despite the
vast and bloody effort of the revolution, convention winning out over
freedom of thought, and falsehood over reality

Doubtless Stalin was very clever to give all his attention, first and
above all, to the Red army, events have justified him flagrantly, and
it matters little now that he did this by relaxing in other regards For
was it not love of the land and of individual property, often a religious
feeling also, that, much more than clinging to Marxist theories, made
the Russian forces so valiant and victorious? Stalin grasped this and
showed that he had grasped it when he opened the churches again
Rut I think that the justice of some of my accusations will be
readily recognized, in particular the one about the oppression of
thought What I said of tins remams true, and that oppression is begm-

4 The journey was made m 1936 and resulted m Retour de FU RS S
(Return from the U SSR) and Retouches & mon Retour deFURSS (Aft*
erthoughts on the U S S R*),

2 5 2

mng to be exercised, in imitation of the USSR, in France Any
thought that does not conform becomes suspect and is at once de-
nounced Terror reigns, or at least tries to reign All truth has become
expedient, that is to say that the expedient falsehood is at a premium
and wins out wherever it can Solely “right-thinking” people will have
a right to express their thought As for the others, let them keep silent,
or else Doubtless one can overcome Nazism only through an anti-
Nazi totalitarianism, but tomorrow it will be essential to struggle
against this new conformism

The spectacle that the H children, unintentionally and without
knowing it, provide me is instructive Faced with certain examples of
aimlessness, I come to realize how much I have been helped m life
by the method, early applied, of always beginning with the most re-
pellent, the most difficult, devoting the newest of my strength to what-
ever cost the greatest effort In the beginning I did this through in-
stinct, it soon became a mania

SO January

No longer tempered by light, nor checked by the outer world, the in-
somnia-sufferer s thought indulgently unfolds its branches and stretches
them to the point of enormity, of monstrosity, m the night

And, unable to go to sleep, I imagined a letter to Camus, who I
am told, has just given to Combat my article on Benda under a title in-
vented by him “Justice before Chanty” (or something similar), which
emphasizes too much the quotation from Malebranche that Benda
made and that I also used There would be a great deal to say on that
subject, and it seems to me of great importance

5 February

Developed (insufficiently) the above-mentioned ideas m an article
entitled “Justice or Chanty,” which I send to Amrouche for some
weekly, since it is too long for the Figaro 8

12 February

by their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew vn, 20 )

The entire system of Linnaeus denves from that word of Christ
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (Matthew vi, 34 )

I have already noted that the Vulgate gives “mahtta” and Bossuet
“malice ” Compare with I Corinthians x, 13

8 The article did, however, appear m the daily Figaro for 25 February
1945, it is reproduced in the volume FewMets d’automne of 1949 (Autumn
Leaves)

There hath no temptation taken you hut such as is common to man
but God is faithful , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able

Wonderful parable of the tares and the good seed (Matthew xm,
24-31) Those who want to gather up the tares (always numerous, and
numerous those who approve them) Christ stops them “ lest
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them ”
Let them grow together, both m the outer world and tn ourselves You
cannot judge m advance what those rank weeds might become that
you take too readily for tares Inexhaustible lesson

Aucun ne doit pSnr , mats tous
En retournant aux cieux en globes de lumiere y
Vont rejomdre leur Stre d la masse premiere
Remarkable use of this word, which Littre would probably have
cited if he had thought he could find it m Delille (who seems to me
rather unjustly disparaged) (Translation of the Georgies , IV )

15 February

animosque ad sidera tollunt 6

The Germans too, to be sure, the Germans especially And the
Americans not at all

17 February

Hecto/s widow , alas , and wife of Helenus r 7
The Greek fable, after Troy, loses its symbolic meamng but takes
on a psychological and poetic value, to the great advantage of drama-
tists There is no longer occasion to seek the hidden meaning of those
stories, they have ceased to have anything mythical about them, their
admirable pathos must suffice for the ingenious poet

I am making an effort in Latin, rather ridiculous obstmacy, doubt-
less, every day I give to it from four to six hours and even more, but
a good teacher would teach me more m an hour than I can succeed in
acquiring alone in half a month of vague gropmgs Forced to disregard
many little unsolved problems Virgil alone brings me a real reward,
and solely m regard to him do I note a real progress, I am now re-
reading very long passages almost without difficulty and readily
I wanted to go back to St Augustine Mystical nausea Fit to vomit
Reread Caesar and Sallust Horace's epistles Cicero's Fro Archta

e "Their spirits soar to the stars " Virgil JEneid, IX, 637
7 Veuve d* Hector, hSlas! et femme d’H4Mnu$t
is a line in Baudelaire's poem “Le Cygne” ("The Swan"), in the Fleurs
du mal

354

To find out right with wrong, it may not he
Scene in, line 145 )

25 February
( Richard II, Act II,

28 February

Handbook of the rotter

Teach others kindness
You may need their services

What an advantage in life to feel no need of the esteem or affection
of others 1

3 April

That veneration which you nourish for your saints I bestow on
those martyrs and should like to see their name celebrated, their story
told, not in a fabulous “golden legend,” but simply according to first-
hand evidence This would show the effort of Faith to arrest the prog-
ress of knowledge, and belief in the dogmas of the Church opposed
to the research of science A Vamm (who even knows his name today?)
denounced by the clergy as tainted with atheism, condemned to the
stake after having his tongue tom out, on 9 February 16X9 According
to the terms of the sentence, he was divested of all his clothing but his
shirt, a noose was put around his neck, and a sign hung on his shoul-
ders with these words “Atheist and blasphemer of the name of God ”
Called upon to retract, Pompeio (this was the name Vamm had taken,
having found refuge in Toulouse after an initial condemnation con-
cerning the Dialogues, which he had published during his sojourn in
Paris) refuses And as the magistrate in charge of the case repeated to
him “The court has ordered that you ask pardon of God, of the King,
and of justice!” “There is no God,” exclaims Vamni, “as for the King,
I have in no way offended him, and as for justice, if there were a God,
I should pray him to hurl his thunderbolt at the Parliament, as wholly
unjust and wicked ” And with a voice “that the cold caused to tremble
since he was without clothing in the midst of wmter, he did not cease
to deny God aloud and the divinity of Christ, proclaiming that there
was no other God than nature, that Jesus was a man like him, that the
soul did not exist by itself, and that death led to nothingness, this was
also why,” he said, “it was sweet and welcome to the unfortunates
who, like him, were tired of fearing and suffering For them it was lib-
eration, the end and remedy of all their ills ” Such was his behef, such
his doctrine And as if he had feared that the Parliament flattered it-
self that that doctrine would perish with him, he added that he was
sure that it would continue to live m the books he had written to dis-
seminate it Aware of setting an example, he exclaimed at intervals that
he was dying as a philosopher When he reached the scaffold, amidst

the vociferations of the crowd, he said “You see, a wretched Jew is
the reason I am here!"

The witnesses, the story adds, did not dare report the rest

When he was attached to the stake, the executioner, havmg thrust
the pincers into his mouth, tore out his tongue down to the roots and
threw it mto the fire At that moment Vamni uttered a cry of pam so
strong and so heart-rending that those present shuddered A reverend
Jesuit, relatmg this fact later, considers it “very amusing”

I read the above m the little book by S Zaborowski Les Mondes
disparus 8 (Alcan, without date), p 15, footnote

Set down this third day of April at Biskra, where arrived yesterday
Should be verified Useful to recall today

17 April

Back to Constantine yesterday evening from an expedition m the
south

By auto to El Kantara ( an hours stop to initiate Mme Th6o to the
charms of the oasis, and subsequently no oasis seemed to us so beauti-
ful), then arrival at Biskra for lunch, by auto to El Oued, then Toug-
gourt, and back to Biskra by tram and likewise to Constantme

Reread the JEneid all along the way and every day

Naples , 17 December

Landed here the day before yesterday, Robert Levesque and I
Found here again Professor Caccioppoh, with whom the unforgettable
evening at Sorrento m 1937 9 Feast at the house of his mother (a
daughter of Bakunin) with his wife and his brother

The next day (yesterday) excellent lunch at the Pasquiers* (direc-
tor of the French Institute in Naples) together with Maurice Ohana,
who plays remarkably, after dinner, Bach, Scarlatti, Albeniz, Granados,
Chopins Barcarolle and fourth ballade

Fatigue and intense gloom We leave the Patria hotel for the Sirena,
scarcely better (requisitioned for the English army) to await the air-
plane call

Last days of 1945

Finally at Luxor for the last four days At Cairo the marvelous
Abbd Drioton explains the museum with reassuring competence That
museum, besides, tires me less since I have made up my mind not to
try to admire everything Faced with Egyptian art (with very few ex-
ceptions), I become nothing but resistance and opposition

8 Worlds of the Past

9 That evening is not described m The Journals of AndrS Gide, see Vol
HI, p 358

January

Tjbat turn of mind (that vicious turn of mind) that people used to
blame m me was what saved France An attitude of insubordination,
of revolt, or even initially and simply an attitude of inquiry So
that, as if by chance, my former accusers suddenly and all together
turned up on the wrong side Beraud, Massis, Mauclair, Maurice
Martin du Gard without a smgle exception so far as I know —
and it could not have been otherwise

Academy? Yes, perhaps, accept becoming a member if with-
out solicitations, grovelmgs, visits, etc And immediately afterward,
for my first deed as an Immortal, a preface to Corydon declaring that
I consider that book as the most important and most "serviceable ” 1
(we have no word, and I don’t even know if this English word ex-
presses exactly what I mean of greater usefulness, of greater service
for the progress of humanity) of my writings I believe this and it
would not be difficult to prove it

The most useful I do not say the most successful Its very form
hardly satisfies me today, nor that way of avoiding scandal and at-
tacking the problem through a feigned proxy It is partly because at
that time I was not sufficiently sure of myself I knew I was right, but
I did not know to what a degree

Aswdn, IS January

It is essential before beginning the game — nay, even before shuf-
fling the cards —to make sure that they are not marked

I am reproached for my oblique gait but who does not know
that when the wind is contrary, one is obliged to tack? It is easy to
criticize for you who let yourselves be carried by the wind I take my
bearing on the rudder*

I am with difficulty convinced that it is restful (for me at least) to
do nothing But I easily convince myself, conquered by fatigue, that
what I do at such times is worthless None the less, sometimes a few
moments are enough to save a day from being zero The important
thing is not to consent to despair

1 In English in the text

Aswdn, 19 January

Shortly before the war, as an experiment or as a game, and on
the advice of Naville perhaps, I had amused myself by risking a
rather large sum m the purchase of securities that, I was told, were
to go up considerably What were those securities? Entrusted to what
bank? Impossible to recall I suddenly thought of this again last night
with a sort of curiosity that became all the more anxious since I was
not quite sure of not having dreamed it all I must check, if possible,
on my return to Pans And I mention it here as a reminder

It is when one says “not a day left to lose'” that one utilizes one’s
time most stupidly Nothing excellent can be done without leisure

21 January

The Ponte Santa Trimta (m Florence) destroyed a marvel of
harmonious equilibrium, of slimness and of bold grace, which moved
me as much as the most imposing architectural feats of Egypt I like
what exalts man and not what bows him low and humiliates him

Were I to open my shutters m the morning on

the flowery shores
Watered by the Seine 2

it would be a delightful surprise These black boulders of granite
breaking the course of the Nile are beautiful, but I do not admire them
any the more for having, originally, been more amazed by them I
shall not try to put order into my thoughts What’s the use?

Nothing bothers me so much as the fame of a landscape (for the
work of art it is not the same at all admiration gives it stuff and den-
sity, its surface is nourished by successive interpretations, here I am
bothered only when fashion enters mto it — as it did recently for Emily
Bronte and today for Kafka, but when this or that Greek or Latin
writer is involved, what a joy to share the emotion of Goethe or Mon-
taigne! ) Before these black rocks of Aswan too many imbeciles have
swooned

The letter from Mme X that the hotel porter gives me this morn-
ing exasperates me, for it says "We must have certain sensations in
common, those that you must have irresistibly felt here when faced
with the black rocks on these pink mornings ” No, madame, faced with

2 The opening of the famous Vers allegoriques d ses enfants ( Allegoric
Lines to her Children) by Mme Deshoulieres ( 1638?— 94) reads.

Dans ces prSs fieuns
Qu’arrose la Seme
Cherchez qui vow mine,

Mes chers brebis

258

these black rocks, I felt nothing at all I am a gentleman, and the
emotions I might ha\e had politely made way for yours

Yesterday, a round of mspection of the hotel A Serbian, who was
employed at Luxor at the time when we were there, offers to guide
us The father of six children from three different marriages He speaks
six languages equally well, one of his sons is a law student m Cairo
He served for a long time on the Cdte d’Azur We encounter in the
hall the pastry chef, an extremely lively, elegant Piedmontese of noble
manners, and I was about to say a “thoroughbred,” who manages to
find, in impeccable French, a few words of praise neither empty nor
platitudinous to show that he has read some of my books and con-
siders himself quite honored by my handshake and the attention I
show him We go down together to the kitchen The chief baker is
Rumanian The chief cook is Greek Another is Czech or Lebanese
All the nations are mingled here, all faiths, all languages And the
same for the guests and those who pass through The kmdly old lady
who asked me the time this morning is Danish and married to an
English lawyer from the Transvaal, she lives m Cairo Egypt is a
magic carpet, a crossroads, where the Jew becomes perhaps the most
permanent and purest element He is much m evidence The young
and likable assistant manager (?) of the hotel speaks ironically of the
number of Egyptian nouveaux riches who now form the hotel's chief
clientele, and he is sensitive to their vulgarity and lack of culture
And just as in the Rouen Assizes I would irresistibly imagine the
stupid jurors taking the place of the accused, and the latter m ex-
change sitting on the jury bench, I could not keep myself from revers-
ing the roles here and thinking how much better the shapeless appear-
ance of these nouveaux riches would suit lackeys, and imagining m
their place the distinguished and elegant servants of the hotel

I have made a great but useless effort to express this, nevertheless
so simple, more simply

Through a great anxiety to be brief (always, and ever smce my
childhood, the fear of not being listened to until the end), I generally
present but the outcome of thoughts Let him understand who can or
who will It will perhaps happen, later on, that an attentive reader
will bring out this or that sentence of mine which first went unnoticed,
and that, in connection with the row that is lacked up today (for which
Sartre is not solely responsible) over certain “existentialist” declara-
tions and manifestations, he will protest in amazement “but Gide had
said it before him ”

I broadcast my seed And let the seed wait if the season is not
propitious! The best is often waited for the longest

24 January

I am continuing my reading of Forster s Passage to India If I un-
derstood it better, I should be reading with rapture, I believe, for the
book strikes me, m so far as I can judge, as a marvel of intelligence,
of tact, of irony, of prudence, and of cleverness But too many thmgs
escape me, and peihaps I attributed too much to him, filling to For-
sters advantage all the blanks resulting from my lack of understanding,
for everything I understand seems to me of the best quality I like, and
even more than what he says, what he suggests and insinuates, as if
incidentally and without committing himself, m apparently inoffensive
sentences that force the reader to a sort of complicity How I like, for
example “There was a moment’s silence, such as often follows the
triumph of rationalism” 3 (p 205, Penguin edition)

Those wise precepts of Boileau that we were made to learn by
heart, m which the classical tradition was crystallized m alexandrines
— it would not be without interest to take them one after another,
seizing them by the nape of the neck and making them pass judgment
The fact that I consider them excellent is what most outmodes me, for
today I should like to be told which of our young writers still pays
any attention to them They are disregarded, and of all those precepts
I wonder if the most scorned is not the one urging us to
Put our work back on the table twenty times 4 5

To this is opposed the advice that Barres gave to Maurice Martin
du Gard (as the latter, the journalist, once told me) to get into the
habit of writing <e currente calamo” without ever striving to perfect
This takes training One practices carelessness One acquires certain
qualities of nimbleness and of virulence, and the sentence goes for-
ward without anything further “that weighs or comes to rest,” often
getting ahead of thought, the “dull brain” that “perplexes and re-
tards ” 6 This already amounts to slipping toward the “automatic

writing” of the surrealists, which is supposed to reveal the mysterious
functioning of the intellect Like any experiment, this one was worth
trymg Furthermore, I am now writing this “currente calamo after
reading some remarks of the likable Dupertuis, professor of French
m the Asw&n school When he was a graduate student, he used regu-

3 In the original the quotation is given in English

4 Distorting Boileau’s famous line somewhat, An dr 6 Gide quotes it

Vmgt fois sur le metier remettre notre outrage

5 Gide here borrows from the opening lines of Verlaine's “Art poStique”

De la musique avant toute chose,

Et pour cela pr4f&re Tlmpair
Plus vague et plus soluble dans Fair,

Sans Hen en hi qui pfese ou qui pose

260

larly to go over with some friends, out of a spirit of abnegation, the
proofs of the Cahiers de la Qmnzame 6 He testifies that Peguy s manu-
scripts that passed through his hands never had the slightest erasure
(one suspected this), the sole corrections were a few occasional inter-
lineations

31 January

On the Nile I let myself be taken (oh, very willingly 1 ) by Robert L
to Wadi Haifa Left Asw&n by auto at about 11 a m , but the Lotus
did not weigh anchor until 1pm, escorted on both sides by two sup-
plementary boats attached to its sides, one taking the place of the
second class and the other loaded with Egyptian scouts (This remmds
me of the railway car filled with Komsomols accompanying us to
Ordzhonikidze )

Landscape more extraordinary than beautiful, but startlingly
strange Almost mystical exaltation Villages the color of the soil, of
the sand, of the rock, villages that I suppose to be Coptic, inhabited
by apprentice stylites Harshness that the Nile fails to soften

Night almost without sleep On awaking, along the still half-lighted
bank, palm trees with their trunks submerged by the overflow caused
by the dam

Robert L shows to one of the leaders of the scouts a Bagdad re-
view, received at Aswan the day before our departure, containing a
photograph of me, together with a rather long article This serves as
an introduction Some of the scouts speak French, the review passes
from hand to hand

“The author of the article says that today you occupy the place
of Goethe,” the leader explains to me, and as I make a tentative gesture
of protest, he thinks he has to add “Oh, Maitre, that is less than the
truth” At times he calls me “ Maitre ” and at others “Monsieur Andre”
(which he pronounces Handrafl)

A vast country ruined by the backing up of the waters Paradox
This submerged land nevertheless permits hasty sowing, I believe,
when the level of the water goes down in the summer before the flood,
and a harvest of wheat But I do not thmk the palm trees can bear
the prolonged footbath

What can the inhabitants of these villages live on? Around the mud
houses not a blade of grass, not the slightest vegetation It is the reign
of the Holy Ghost

6 The Fortmghtly was published between 1900 and 1914 by ,the poet
Charles Peguy,

Started out wrongly Just as at the tune of my escapade to Gao 7
Just as always I shall have to take leave of this eaith dissatisfied,
havmg known almost nothmg of it That absurd lazmess which led me
to return to the same places because it cost less effort I look with a
sort of despair at a map of the unknowns . Regret for all I might
have seen, should have seen, borders on remorse Wadi Haifa, the ter-
minus of this journey, should be a point of departure It is from Khar-
toum onward that I should like to go up the Nile . . .

I would lean over the bridge at Saint-Louis, would remain raptly
watching the schools of tiny fish peoplmg the waters of the Senegal,
so thick that it seemed they could have supported you, and occasion-
ally shaken by sudden and inexplicable panics And the crabs, the le-
gions of crabs on the beach I see again on the banks of the
Logone (one would have thought them covered with flowers) the beds
of multicolored birds

The banks of the Nile between Aswan and Wadi Haifa are de-
serted, its waters are empty A paltry swarm of large dragonflies es-
corting the ship before reaching Abu Simbel, the only living things I
saw during the whole journey

At Aswan itself, however, many glider hawks and many grayback
crows On the Elephantine island, some wasps' nests and a few hoo-
poes A tiny stiltbird runs along the shore looking as if it had escaped
from a bas-relief A single variety of butterfly, in great abundance on
Kitchener island

Marvelous hotel of Wadi Haifa Simple and perfect comfort of the
rooms One could not imagine anything better for a rest But I must
leave again

The air is keen, almost frigid Little electric radiators in the rooms

On the walls of the drawing-room, excellent color-reproductions of
Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, etc

Between the tables m the dining-room, sparrows snap up crumbs

Staggering temple of Abu Simbel, yet nothmg to say of it but what
has already been said

Wadi Haifa

In all these Sudanese what a bearing! What decorum! What dig-
nity 1

Back to Asw&n the 4th

At Luxor the 9th (of February)

7 In April 1944

262 Journal 194U

I should give all the “black rocks" of Aswin for the austere desola-
tion of Thebes

Often I am gnawed by a feeling (which sometimes gets to the
point of anguish) that I have something more important to do (than
what I am doing and am concerned with at present) If I had to die in
an hour, should I be ready?

Assiduous, daily rereading of the last books of the JEneid From
three to four hours every day These last books seem to me today to
be in no wise inferior to the first 8 Or at least, if perhaps less perfect
in form and more scattered m interest (more confused, especially m
Book XII), constantly revived by charming mventions, m which pity is
mingled with horror, tenderness with heroism, the sentiment of glory
and human dignity with fnght

24 February

At Nag Hamadi, where I find the same charming welcome from
Dr and Mme Girardot, of whom I had such a pleasant memory Un-
expected meeting with Jean-Paul Trystram, whom I take a keen and
deep pleasure in seeing again He is going to Afghanistan to take up
a post as professor at Kabul, he accompames us in a jaunt through the
sugarcane fields and to the dam

Yesterday evening I receive this letter from an unknown named
Bernard Enginger, it is so significant that I want to set it down here

For five years I have been wanting to write you At that time I
discovered your Nourritures terrestres , I was seventeen I could not
tell you how it upset me I have never been the same since I want to
tell you of my respect and my admiration Hundreds of letters like
this one must have reached you That is not the only thing I wanted to
write you

I struggled against you for five years Your Menalque knows enough
to say “Leave me " That is too easy I struggled against that spiritual
tyranny you exercised over me I loved you, and certain passages from
your books helped me to live m the concentration camps In you I
found the strength to tear myself away from a middle-class, material
comfort With you I sought “not so much possession as love ” I cleared
everything away to be new for the new law I liberated myself That
is not enough “Free for what?" That is the dreadful question At last
I detached myself from you, but I have not found any new masters,
and I remam quivermg The terrifying absurdity of die Sartres and
the Camuses has solved nothing and merely opens horizons of suicide

8 Exaggeration [A]

I still live with everything you taught me But I am thirsty All
young people are thirsty with me You can do something And yet I
know that one is alone, always

I do not expect from you a convenient solution for my little prob-
lem That would be too easy, a collective solution Each one must find
his way, which is not the same as his neighbors But a glimmer from
you might indicate the direction to take If there is a direction
Oh, Maitre If you only knew the confusion of all our youth
I do not want to waste your time I have not said everything I
wanted to say There would be too much to say

This is an appeal I am throwing out to you Forgive my awkward-
ness I know that you do not like sympathy 8

None the less, I want to tell you of my tremendous admiration and
the hope I put m you

Beheve me, Maitre , faithfully and respectfully yours,

Bernard Engxnger
Hotel de Parts, Cairo
( until 27 February )
on the point of leaving for

Pondictery

At Suez he will take the same ship as Trystram, who is going to
Afghanistan by way of India I entrust to him a first hasty letter, which
scarcely satisfies me Then, after deliberation, write this, without much
hope of still being able to reach B E at Cairo — and that is why I
mike a copy

Dear Bernard Enginger,

Rushed by Trystram’s departure, I wrote you too hastily yesterday
evening This is what I should rather have said to you

Why seek “new masters”? Catholicism or Communism demands, or
at least advocates, submission of the mind Worn out by yesterdays
struggle, young men (and many of their elders) seek and think they
have found, in that very submission, rest, assurance, and intellectual
comfort Indeed, they even seek m it a reason for living and convince
themselves (let themselves be convinced) that they will be more useful
and will achieve their full value when enrolled Thus it is that, without
being really aware of it, or becoming aware of it only too late, through
abnegation or laziness, they are going to contribute to the defeat, to
the retreat, to the rout of the spirit, to the establishment of some form
or other of “totalitarianism” which will be hardly any better than the
Nazism they were fighting

* Obvious allusion to a sentence in my Nourritures “Not sympathy, but
love.” [A.]

264

The world will be saved, if it can be, only by the unsubmissive
Without them it would be all up with our civilization, our culture,
what we loved, and what gave to our presence on earth a secret jus-
tification Those unsubmissive ones are the “salt of the earth” and re-
sponsible for God For I am convinced that God is not yet and that we
must achieve him Could there be a nobler, more admirable role, and
more worthy of our efforts' 1

PS — Yes, I am well aware that I wrote in my Noumtures “Not sym-
pathy, but love ” But I too, and before anyone else, following my own
advice, “left my book” and went beyond Even in regard to oneself
it is essential not to come to a stop

22 November

My seventy-seventh birthday, I get up a little before six o’clock
with the sudden resolution to begin to keep this journal again, inter-
rupted since

If that resolution does not hold beyond a few days, I shall tear out
this page, for it is useless to leave a trace of such an uncertain com-
mitment, without importance, Yvonne Davet, without suspecting it,
has done a great deal, by the cult she has made of me, to disgust me
with myself I can understand Schwob covering the mirrors in his
apartment, 10 my image, that reflection of me that I constantly en-
counter, thanks to her, is becoming unbearable to me, I bump into it,
I bruise myself on it Consequently I reproached myself yesterday
with not having peremptorily suppressed the row that the zealous Am-
rouche is organizing on the radio for my birthday Yes, I should have
opposed it clearly as soon as he spoke to me of it I told him, to be
sure, that I did not like it, but too weakly for him not to think he could
nevertheless disregard me I lack firmness in defense, not through lack
of will, but through a sort of modesty (I don’t care if this word causes
smiles), which keeps me from making my point of view, my opinion,
my plan, prevail over those of others For many people this will re-
mam incomprehensible, for I believe it extremely rare for pride not to
accompany notoriety Yet this is my case, and Clouard was very per-
spicacious when he entitled an article “Gide or the Fear of Being
Right ” That was very long ago, but that has remained one of the few
constant elements m my nature, and it is this that makes me worth-
less in politics I understand the adversary too well (at least so long
as he remains sincere and does not try to deceive me)

I return to that broadcast of yesterday evening it seems to me
definitely indecent to bother friends with a request of that kind, which

10 See The Journals of Andre Gule, Vol I, p 110,

it is very hard for them to sidestep gracefully Amrouche went about
it so well that even Roger Martin du Gard, who generally refuses,
thought he had to play his part (I am going to write him a note of
apology), while probably wishing me, with Amrouche, in hell, for
nothing is more disturbing than that sort of obligation None the less,
his message was charming and moved me m proportion to the effort
he had gone to m order to write it I have not yet been able to make
myself acquamted with those of Malraux, Schlumberger, Paulhan, and
Camus Yesterday evenmg, having remained alone with Mme
Theo (while the Herbarts went to the Pleiade concert), was unable to
hear anything on the radio set that had been moved in for that pur-
pose, either of the concert or of the broadcast that was to follow it
I hope to see the written texts

Received a visit from the charming Chevaliers, father, mother, and
young son, whom I did not yet know They were to take a plane at
9 p m to return to Karnak, where I had taken such pleasure m seeing
them Would that I could accompany them! The rehearsals of Le
Procds keep me m Pans, where I run the risk of seemg death come
with the first frosts, but Barrault's undertaking interests me too much
for me to be willing to be distracted from it 11

Yesterday afternoon, intolerable chore of autographing the “com-
plimentary copies" of Hamlet 12 Nothing more exhausting

I am entering my seventy-eighth year in rather good condition, al-
together, with still enough curiosity to want to continue to live, not
too tired or fed up with myself, not loving myself much, but finding
myself easy to live with, accommodating

The other evening Catherine and I amused ourselves by wondermg
in whose skm she and I might like to live, and, everything considered,
concluded that we should not gam anything by changing
It is time to go and light Mme Th^os fire

23 November

A sumptuous armful of roses It is Mme Voilier transferring to me
some of the attentions she used to shower on Valery Red carnations
brought by Dominique Aury She came the evenmg before last, ac-
companying Amrouche Mme Theo remembers (quite appropriately
to congratulate her on it) her excellent article on Simenon, which came
out in V Arche She is kind enough to take Mme Davet off to dinner

11 The adaptation to the stage of Kafka's novel The Trial by Andre
Gide and Jean-Louis Barrault was staged by Barrault with great success at
the Marigny Theater on 10 October 1947

12 Gides complete translation of Hamlet > after being pubished in New
York in 1944 (Pantheon Books), appeared in Paris in a Gallimard edition
in 1940, Gide is referring to the Pans edition.

266

with her In order to allow her to hear on her radio the broadcast that
Mme Davet was unhappy not to be able to hear

A most unexpected telephone call it is Colette wishing me a happy
birthday and expressing her desire to see me agam She was touched
by what I said of her m my Journal , I wondered if she had known of
it Doubtless I shall respond to her call, but knowing well, alas, that
immediately after the first effusions we shall have nothing to say to
each other

Opening by chance Rouveyre’s book on Leautaud, 18 1 fall upon this

“A G has confided to the Virginia Quarterly Review that if he were
to withdraw to a desert island, he would take along the following
books La Chartreuse de Parme , Les Liaisons dangereuses , La Pnn-
cesse de CUves , Dominique , La Cousme Bette , Madame Bovary , Ger-
minal, Marianne ” 14

I protest I had been asked to designate my ten favorite French
novels If, m exile, I could take along only ten books, not one of these
would be among them

25 November

I have always had for Leautaud an almost keen affection, conse-
quently I am hurt by a certain remark of his, quoted by Rouveyre
from a letter addressed to him m which Leautaud speaks of my “hypoc-
risy,” my “duplicity,” and my ‘little deceits” Very curious to
know on the basis of what anecdotes that opinion could have been
formed As a result of what ill-natured gossip?

Perhaps Leautaud, readmg the wholly affectionate praise I make
of him in the pages sent recently as a contribution to the revival of
the Mercure de France , 15 will think that I wrote them as a sort of reply
to his accusations, so that that very praise will appear, m Leautauds
eyes, as one more ‘little deceit ” What an odd process of deformation
can take place, unconsciously or almost, m the minds of the most per-
spicacious and best-informed! Thus it is that any portrait of another
comes to resemble the painter as much as the model or more

13 Choix de pages de Paul LSautaud (Selected Writings of Paul Leau-
taud) by Andre Rouveyre appeared m 1946

14 The Charterhouse of Parma is by Stendhal, Dangerous Relations by
Choderlos de Laclos, The Princess of CUves by Mme de La Fayette, Domi-
nique by Eugene Fromentm, Cousin Betty by Balzac, Madame Bovary by
Flaubert, Germinal by Zola, and Marianne by Marivaux In the original
article, first published in 1913, Gide had included also Le Roman bourgeois
by Furetiere and Manon Lescaut by the Abb 6 Prevost

16 Those pages, entitled “Le Mercure de France ” appeared m No 1000
of the Mercure , which bore the date 1 July 1940-1 December 1946, they
are reprinted in Femllets tfautomne ( Autumn Leaves)

With what a shock had I read in Benda's Exercice dun enterre vif 16
that, as a result of something or other, I had gone a fortnight without
being willing to shake his hand*

And how I like, on the other hand, Vallotton s exclamation when,
after having drawn my "mask” for Remy de Gourmonts book, 17 he
met me for the first time at the Revue Blanche "Good heavens, my
dear Gide, from my portrait I should never have recognized you*”

But no, knowing Leautaud, I am mclmed to believe rather that he
was unable to consider smcere the sentences, the pages of my Journal
which do not fit his view He looks upon all genuflexions as pretense,
and all reverences, and my Numquid ettu ? , for instance, seems
to him a proof of stupidity or of hypocrisy whoever thinks or writes
such a thing without being stupid is acting a comedy This is perhaps
enough to make Leautaud tax me with duplicity, without there being
any reason to look further I prefer that, for it hurt me that he could
believe in some ill intention toward him

26 November

Scum of the Earth seems to me the best possible illustration of
Sartrism (if not of existentialism proper) Incoherence and absurdity
I am readmg this book and taking a very lively mterest in it I believe
I have read almost all the books of Koestler (not Spartacus or The
Gladiators , which I had taken with me to Egypt and which bored me)
beg innin g with his Spanish Testament (I must reread it), which prob-
ably remains his best Read m English Darkness at Noon and The Yogi
and the Commissar Reread the latter in French (at Brussels) It seems
to me that nothing better, more cogent, has been written on (or,
rather, against) Stalinist Russia It has an extraordinary eloquence and
persuasive force, and through the mere exposition of facts presented
with utter fairness And what do I care about his attacks in the be-
ginning of this last book! 18 I am ready to admit that he is right At

18 Exercise of One Buned Alive , Benda's journal of the four years of
enemy occupation, was published in Geneva in 1945

17 Le Livre des masques (The Book of Masks) was a senes of studies of
wnters, each one illustrated with a portrait by Vallotton

18 In "The French 'Flu,” the second essay included in The Yogi and the
Commissar, Koestler ridicules the English literary publics weakness for any-
thing French, taking as examples — the essay first appeared in November
1943 — Gide’s Imaginary Interviews, Aragons Crdve-Cceur, and Vercors’s
Silence of the Sea After stating that "Gides writings have always shown a
touch of esoteric arrogance, there is a thin rarefied atmosphere about him
and his books," he finds "the same ethereal boredom” m the Imaginary In-
terviews

268

most I could claim extenuating circumstances (both for the virulence
of his attacks and his attitude of mind at the moment when he formu-
lated them and for what motivated them - that is to say, the apparent
unseasonableness of my writings) For everything that he says my
approbation is too great to keep me from thinking that we should
both have reacted in the same way before the same instigations I am
convinced that there is no basic misunderstanding there, but simply
a temporary one, so that I disregard it and let my congenial feelmg
alone subsist, for which he probably does not give a fig, but that
doesn’t matter It is perhaps better that we should remain strangers
to each other But I have rarely read books that went more directly
to my heart than his

27 November

I am finishing Koestler’s book The very last chapters seem to me
much less good — that is, as soon as he abandons reportmg, m which
he excels Everything he says seems to me right, but the metaphors
he uses to illustrate his reasonmgs are clumsy He loses his footmg
in the abstract and clmgs to images And then this, which seems to
me most important, he does not say that one can fight an enemy
only by borrowmg his arms, his methods, and even his psychology ,
with the result that today we have conquered Hitler, while everywhere
Hitlerism is triumphant

28 November

Nothing more difficult to translate than a title, the moment it ceases
to be very direct And the cleverest thing is often to disregard it, with-
out seeking an equivalent This is what was done for Darkness at Noon
(though I do not see exactly what stood in the way here of an almost
literal translation) But La Lie de la terre (I do not know what the
English title was) seems to me inadmissible 19 At most one can say
the dregs of a nation, of a people, of something, m short, capable of
running out

1 December

The extraordinary prestige that actors enjoy often comes from this,
which is added to their own worth the mass of the public is not
capable of understandmg and appreciating a masterpiece of dramatic
art through mere reading, but only when interpreted

Olivier in King Lear I have no doubt that he is admirable m it,
and I should have enjoyed applauding him , But I renounce this
with disconcerting facility I renounce anything and everything pleas-

19 Darkness at Noon was translated as he Zero a Tinfim ( Zero to the
Infinite Degree) and Scum of the Earth as La Lie de la terre ( The Dregs of
the Earth)

ures, travels, epicurean delights, and without effort, without regrets
I have had my fill "Next gentleman 99 I withdraw No merit m this, I
am yielding to a natural tendency Furthermore, weakened by a filthy
head-cold, and my heart likely to give in since ( it was the day before
yesterday) I ran after the bus that was to take me to the Martin du
Gards 9 , ran like a child, and I am not one any longer, as I was made
aware immediately on the platform, which I painfully and just barely
reached, I thought I was going to famt Then it takes me a week to
get back to normal and re-establish myself one or two rungs lowei
But a good pretext to refuse any solicitation from the outside Were
it not for the obligation to go and get the majority of my meals m a
restaurant (a compulsion that is becommg more a nuisance every
month), I should go days and weeks without leaving the apartment
It is in work that I take the greatest pleasure, and I rail agamst what-
ever distracts me from it Whether of ivory or of crystal, now it is that
I should like to take refuge m a tower surrounded with impassable
moats and with a postern to which only a few mtimate friends would
have a key But it so happens that those who besiege me are intruders,
and my friends are those who respect and protect my retreat and
isolation How to make the others understand, however well mten-
tioned they are (like the editors of Franchise , 20 from whom I receive
this mommg an excellent and most urgent letter), that they disturb
me frightfully and that if they have any consideration for my writings,
they ought to leave me m peace to allow me to go about my work
There still remams much for me to do, I am convinced of this at every
instant of every day

2 December

Finally let myself be taken to King Lear last night No effort to get
there Emd MacLeod comes to pick me up m an Embassy car, which
is to bring me home likewise Elisabeth, though having already seen
the play the day before yesterday, accompanies me Everything is ar-
ranged m the best possible way But as soon as I am m the box (ex-
actly facing the stage) or very soon after the curtain goes up, a mortal
boredom begins to numb me, a rather special sort of boredom that I
hardly ever feel save m the theater There are pauses, suspenses, slow
moments, preparations of effects, that are unbearable Like a child at
the CMtelet, I wait for the set to be changed

As for Olivier, he is without contest a great actor The fact that
he can, with the same success, impersonate one after the other the
dashing young officer of Shaw's Arms and the Man and old Lear is

20 A Leftist group of anti-Communist tendencies, which founded a
weekly newspaper that lasted for but two numbers

270

amazing And the whole company surrounding him is definitely above
average, completely homogeneous, excellent ensemble But shall I
dare write here what I think of King Lear ? Yesterday’s production
strengthens my opinion I am almost on the point of considering that
play execrable, of all Shakespeare’s great tragedies the least good, and
by far I constantly thought how Hugo must have liked it! AH his
enormous faults are evident m it constant antitheses, devices, arbitrary
motives, barely, from time to time, some glimmer of a smcere human
emotion I cannot even very well grasp what is considered as the diffi-
culty of interpretation of the first scene difficulty of getting the pubhc
to accept the King’s naive stupidity, for all the rest is in keeping the
entire play from one end to the other is absurd Only through pity
does one become interested in the tribulations of that old dotard, a
victim of his fatuousness, his senile smugness, and his stupidity He
moves us only at the rare moments of pity that he himself shows for
Edgar and for his sweet fool Parallelism of the action in the Gloucester
family and m his the bad daughters and the wicked son, the good
Edgar and the kind Cordelia The white hair m the tempest, the bru-
tality unleashed against weak innocence no thin g tha t is not in-
tentional, arbitrary, forced, and the crudest means are employed to
seize us by the guts It has ceased to be human and become enormous ,
Hugo himself never imagined anything more gigantically artificial,
more false The last act ends with a gloomy hecatomb in which good
and evil are mingled m death Olivier’s company handles it as a sort
of final apotheosis d. la Mantegna living tableau, s killf ul grouping,
everything is there, even to the architecture of arcades framing m the
admirably ordered ensemble Art triumphs One has only to applaud

The enthusiastic audience acclaims Olivier and his company

Strange part played in that drama by papers and missives, pre-
sented, stolen, falsified, up to seven tunes, if I counted aright

7 December

Lunched yesterday at Carbom’s with Stephen Spender and Henn
Hell, both at their most charming I had invited them, but Spender in-
sisted on paying the bill in the name of UNESCO, which he represents
and of which Huxley (Julian) has just been named the head I send
the latter, as an epigraph for his program, the last line of Book II of
the &neid, which Spender notes down — a line that I had already
quoted m my article for America, giving it a symbolic meaning
Ce ssi, et sublato montis genitore petivi 21

22 19 October 1942 (A ] See supra, pp 130-1
kteral translation of this fine It has not been possible to identify the “a rticle
for America ” Possibly a reference to the Bryce Memorial Lecture he gave

“ and, talong upon myself die entire weight of my patrimony,
I strove toward the heights ” Is not that ]ust what UNESCO proposes' 5.

Unsatisfied if I cannot begin my day by the eagerly awaited read-
ing of some fifty lines of Virgil

8 December

Samt-Evremond’s pages on Virgil (Des traductions) I put among
the best he has written, and nothing better has been written on the
great Latin poet I reread them aloud the other evening to Roger
Martin du Gard Achilles, too, weeps in the Iliad (I want to find the
passage), but it is not the same thing And I dislike also the tearful in
Racine, however admirable the lines may be at that point Anti-heroic
aspect of ^Eneas’ piety (Regrets that the character of Mezentius
“ contemptor deum” was not developed further ) And perhaps Virgil
was yielding not only to his gentle natural inclination, but even more
to the desire to please the suite of Augustus, the court

Sunday, 15 December
Forsaken this Journal for the past week, too busy Yesterday I felt
“played out” of what? Of everything Yes, truly, I have had
enough, both of others and of myself, my heart not up to it, my will
weakening An excellent visit from Roger, after dinner, put every-
thing back m place Already comforted by his mere presence, like that
night at Hyeres-Plage when, tormented by the beginning of a most
p ainf ul otitis and unable to bear it, I went and got him out of bed
at three in the mommg, for the mere solace of feeling my hand in
his Lively conversation for three full hours, profound mutual under-
standing

18 December

"Cold wave” for the last three days over all Europe, the papers tell
us, and Pierre H , who took a plane Friday the 13th (lucky fellow! ) for
Marseille, writes that it is 21° above on the C6te d’Azur At 20° above
I fold up In order to “hold up” I stiffen myself, hang on, and my whole
will is used up in this In the mommg I should give almost anything
to remain m bed and bless the necessity of gomg to light Mme Thao’s
fire, which forces me to get up The feeling of duty confers a sort of
benediction on every deed accomplished, one feels like a moral being,
one escapes the law of gravity, profound satisfaction (and yet without
any pride) that I owe perhaps to my Protestant heredity, but that

at Oxford in June 1947, which he refused to publish, m it he quoted the
same line as symbolic of modem man bearing the weight of the past

2?2

doesn’t matter And all that, without any need of turning to mysticism,
remains human (in me at least) Amazing aptitude for happiness

18 December

Tn the heavy mail brought me by my article on the French lan-
guage, m the Figaro of 10 December, a very long, too long letter signed
Gabriel Daures (?) and dated from Lourdes contains pertinent re-
marks and confessions he has never been able to get mterested m
novels (“The popularity of the novel seems to me one of the surest
si gns of the present obvious and headlong decline of letters ”)
Thus it is that he “has never had the courage to tackle Les Faux-
Monnayeurs ” He most enjoys m me the stylist “For me, you are the
Racine of prose,” etc I should not speak of all this were it not for a
few lines as a postscript that bring an unexpected judgment, ringing
so new (for me) that I do not resist transcribing them (partly because
of the commentary they provoke, which I want to set down) “Quite
astonished by what you say in the last issue of U Arche about Corydon 22
I should like to reread that work, my memory being bad (except for
the memory of impressions) But it so happens that I recall that, on
my now very old reading, I had the feelmg of an artistic achievement
I used to put in the place of importance among your works, and among
our French masterpieces (with most of your ‘essays’). La Forte etroite,
Amyntas, Corydon, without analogy in our literature, I should say in
any literature if I were not so utterly ignorant in foreign literatures ”

And I transcribe this passage not so much for me as for Roger
Martin du Gard, who greatly disapproved, to be sure, that recent pub-
lication of new Pages de journal (in which, by declarations of a po-
litical nature, I unnecessarily make myself vulnerable to attacks and
criticisms), but congratulated me unqualifiedly on what I said of
Corydon “You did quite right to return to the subject and to express
at one and the same time what you think of the major importance of
that book and of its imperfection ” I believe that Roger was particu-
larly grateful to me for admitting that it was a book that did not come
off But what I must now add is that when I wrote that page in my
Journal it seemed to me the most elementary prudence to make con-
cessions on the plane of the Successful achievement " I grant you that
the book is abortive, and this is a pity, but grant me that what I say in
it is important ” There was a sort of tit for tat in this, which was per-
haps not altogether sincere on my part, for that book, which I worked
over, meditated, returned to and rewrote, and “tempered” more in-
tensely and over a longer period of time than any other, and which it
was so especially important to succeed, in view of its temerity , I

22 19 October 1942 [A ] See supra, pp 139-1

do not consider it as quite so much a failure as I said on that page, oh,
far from itf And this is why those few lmes from an unknown both sur-
prised me pleasantly and made me ashamed of my pretense

28 December

Bossuet speaks of the “points of faith that one must believe ex-
plicitly m order to be saved” (Mats doraison , II, 19) He would turn
over m his grave upon seeing the Church so accommodating today and
hearing people speak of its evolution He wants it to be immutable, and
all the “variations” belong to heresy 23

In Geneva Preface for the Anthologie
Scenario of Isabelle 24

“Je nai 'point connu quelle ait dans Tdme aucun ressentiment de
mon ardeur 99 (Amants magmfiques , Act I, Scene n ) And farther on
(Act II, Scene i)

“ Ten at , Madame , tout le ressentiment quil est possible (des soms
quon a pns pour moi) ” 25

23 Bossuet had, indeed, written a work of theological controversy en-
titled The History of the Variations within the Protestant Churches See
The Journals of Andre Gide , Vol II, p 337

24 Gides Anthologie de la poesie frangaise did not appear until 1949
His Isabelle has not yet been released as a film

26 In reading The Magnificent Lovers by Moliere, Gide is struck by the
now obsolete use of the word ressentiment m the sense of “awareness” or
“recollected feeling”, today the word means chiefly “resentment ”

IS March

jE^uchefs book that Y D had sent me when I was m Egypt has
just come back to her today 1 2 * 4 * Had I already read it? A note to his essay
on Valery, which I remembered, makes me think so, but up to that
note (p 133, that is to say, close to the end of the volume) everything
seemed to me unfamiliar Rather absurd criticism, for, after all, taking
into account only my Journal , it is easy for him to prove that I am
merely an erratic individual, mcapable of producing any work, easy,
but not quite fair He argues as if I had been the author only of that
Journal, and this allows him to talk of a “perpetual frustration” and of
my vain and constant effort to hide this At most he mentions Paludes ,
of the other books not a word

I was very much behindhand with contemporary drama, if not with
the drama of Marcel Achard, yet I did not yet know either his Cohnette
or Une Balle perdue , which I have just read with a certain rapture, par-
tial with Cohnette and almost constant with Une Balle perdue 3 (Nei-
ther Malborough which is inexistent, nor Voulez-vous jouer avec
mod? which is rather disappointing ) As for Salacrou s drama, un-
believably uneven, I informed myself attentively of six plays Excellent
scenes in Un Homme comme les autres and the first two acts of La
Femme hbre UInconnue d Arras, alas, does not justify its claims, this
is a pity 8 At present I am absorbed by Steve Passeur Too early to
speak of him

1 consider Sartre's La Putatn respectueuse as a sort of masterpiece
I did not at all like his last two long and bormg novels, but La
Putam since the excellent stories of Le Mur he had written noth-
ing stronger or more perfect *

1 Lcnvams mtelhgents du XX 0 stecle ( Intelligent Writers of the Twen-
tieth Century) by Edmond Buchet appeared in 1945 Its three parts are
entitled < Marcel Proust or the Power of the Abnormal,” “Andr6 Gide Ac-
cording to His Journal or Intelligence against Life,” and “Paul Valery and
the Limits of Intelligence ”

2 Cohnette (1942), A Wasted Bullet (1928), Malborough Goes to War
(1924), and Will You Play with Me? (1923) are all comedies combining a
comic gift of nonsense with a peculiar poetry

8 A Man like Anyone Else (1936), A Free Woman (1934), and The
Strange Woman of Arras (1935) are all comedies by Armand Salacrou The
last named, employing an expressiomstic technique, was overpraised by its
producer, Lugne-Poe, and by some of the critics

4 The play The Respectful Prostitute was first presented in Pans in

1946, the stones of The Wall came out in 1939 The novels are The Age of

Individualism

Mme Theo s clock, stopped for three months now, suddenly began
agam this mornmg by itself, sponte sua , and without anyone’s having
touched it We hear it strike eight o’clock, it is noon

Odd inadvertence

I was about to throw myself Into his arms .

But he did not open his

(Fleuret Jim Click , p 80 )
the sublimities of ignorance

( Claude Bernard, quoted by Renan in his Discours & TAcadimie )

Neuchdtel > November

A Swedish mtei viewer asked me if I did not regret having written
any particular one of my books (I do not know whether he was think-
ing of Le Retour de TU RSS or of Corydon) I replied that not only
did I not disown any of my writmgs, but that I should certainly have
bade farewell to the Nobel Prize if, in order to obtam it, I had had to
disown anything 6

(Letter that was not sent, but it is worth setting down, since errors
are hard to kill )

Sir

Allow me to protest agamst the article “L’ltaha di Gide” that ap-
peared in your paper 6 with the signature of Massimo Rendina He in-
tensifies the suspicion I have always had in regard to interviewers I
cannot point out all the errors contamed m his article and particularly
m what he makes me say for I did not know Carducci, or Pascoh, or
Benedetto Croce It was not in Paris but in Florence that I frequented
d’Annunzio I do not recognize any of the remarks he attributes to me
regarding the latter, or regarding the existentialists and Sartre

AUTUMN LEAVES

Neuchdtel

I shall be able to say "So be it” to whatever happens to me, were it
even ceasmg to exist, disappearing after having been But just now I
am and do not know exactly what that means I should like to try to
understand

Reason (1945) and The Reprieve (1945), the first two parts of Roads to
Freedom

6 Andr6 Gide was m NeucMtel m November 1947 when informed that
he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

6 II Gtornale deW Emiha-Bologna, 14 December 1947 [A ]

276

Please, leave me alone I need a little silence around me in order to
achieve peace within me

What a nuisance you are* I need to collect my thoughts

“Free thought * X explained to me that true freedom of
thought had to be sought among believers , not among such as me

“For, after all, your mind is fettered by logic ”

I granted that it required a special freedom of thought to believe
m miracles and all the rest, and that I could clearly see that his mind
did not object to admitting what seemed to me (and to him) contrary
to reason That is the very essence of Faith Where you can no longer
observe or prove, you must believe

“And if you refuse to believe,” he concluded, “stop telling me and
claiming that you love freedom ”

Basically I was well aware that I was not a “free thinker ”

Faith moves mountains, yes, mountains of absurdities 7 To Faith I
do not oppose doubt, but affirmation what could not be is not

Hence I shall refuse to consider finality in nature According to
the best advice, I shall everywhere substitute, systematically, the how
for the why For instance, I know (or at least I have been told) that
that substance the silkworm discharges while makmg his cocoon would
poison him if he kept it in him He purges himself of it To save him-
self he empties himself None the less the cocoon, which he is obliged
to form under threat of death and which he would be unable either
to imagine or to fashion otherwise, protects the metamorphosis of the
caterpillar, and the caterpillar cannot become a butterfly unless emp-
tied of that silky poison But I am indeed forced at the same
time to admire the way m which the how joins the why m this case,
fusing with it so intimately and with such a tight interweave that I
cannot distinguish one from the other

And likewise for the mollusk and its shell Likewise constantly and
everywhere in nature the solution is mseparable from the problem Or
rather there is no problem, there are only solutions Mans mind in-
vents the problem afterward He sees problems everywhere. Its
screaming 8

Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree
does its withered leaves! And without too many regrets* if possible!

7 See the PS at the end of this section [A ]

8 After using here the vulgar expression “C*est warrant * Gide adds this
footnote “This is the first tune I have used this frightful word, do not even
know how to spell it But it is the only one that fits/*

Those from which the sap has withdrawn But, good Lord, what beau-
tiful colors!

Those ideas which one first thought one could not possibly do
without Whence great danger of basing one’s moral comfort on false
ideas Let us check, let us verify first Once the sun turned around the
earth, which, as a fixed point, remained the center of the universe and
focal point of Gods attention And suddenly, no! It is the earth
that turns But then everything is upsed All is lost! Yet nothing
is changed but the belief Man must learn to get along without it
First from one, then from another, he frees himself Get along with-
out Providence man is weaned

We have not reached this point We have not yet reached this
point It requires much virtue to achieve that state of total atheism,
even more to remam there The “believer” will probably see m it noth-
ing but an invitation to license^ If this were so, hooray for God* Hoo-
ray for the sacred falsehood that would preserve humanity from col-
lapse, from disaster But cannot man learn to demand of himself,
through virtue, what he believes demanded by God? Yet he must
nevertheless get to this pomt, some, at least, must, to begm with,
otherwise the game would be up That strange game that we are play-
ing on earth (unintentionally, unconsciously, and often unwillingly)
will be won only if the idea of God, on withdrawing, yields to virtue,
only if mans virtue, his dignity, supplants God God has ceased to
exist save by virtue of man Et entis sicut dei (Thus it is that I want
to understand that old word of the Tempter — who, like God, has ex-
istence only m our mmds — and see m that offer, which has been char-
acterized for us as fallacious, a possibility of salvation )

God is virtue But what do I mean by that? I should have to define,
I cannot do so I shall manage to do so only subsequently But I shall
already have accomplished much if I remove God from the altar and
put man m his place Provisionally I shall think that virtue is the best
the individual can obtam from himself

God lies ahead I convince myself and constantly repeat to myself
that He depends on us It is through us that God is achieved

What rubbish all that literature is! And even were I to consider
only the finest writings, what business have I, when life is here at hand,
with these reflections, these carbon copies of life? The only thing that
matters to me is what can lead me to modify my way of seeing and
acting Merely living calls for all my courage, merely living in this
frightful world And I know and feel that it is frightful, but I know

2 jS

also that it could be otherwise and that it is what we make it If you
point out the present horror m order to bring about a protest through
indignation, through disgust, bravo! But if not, up and at the demoral-
izers!

There might very well be nothing, nor anyone No one to notice
that there is nothing, and to consider that natural

But that there is something, and, whatever it may be, the strange
thing! i shall never cease being amazed at this

Something and not complete nonexistence It required centimes of
centuries to produce that something, to get that, whatever it may be,
from chaos Even more centuries to obtain the least life And even
more for that life to achieve consciousness I have ceased to under-
stand, and from its very beginning, that progress, that history But
more incomprehensible than all the rest a disinterested feeling Faced
with that, I am amazed, I stand in awe People are doubtless wrong in
going into raptures over the maternal or conjugal or altruistic abnega-
tion of animals, it is possible to explain it, to analyze it there is really
no thin g disinterested m it, everything follows its inclination and its
pleasure I grant this, but only to admire all the more those sentiments
when I find them refined m man and capable of gratuitousness Before
the least act of self-consecration, of self-sacrifice, for others, for an ab-
stract duty, for an idea, I get on my knees If it is to lead to this, all
the rest of the world is not useless all the vast misery of men

They do not recognize a serenity acquired outside of their teach-
ing I am speaking here of the Catholics, any doctrine that strays from
then Church must lead to despair

“By speaking thus of that serenity on which you pride yourself
you put it on show, by putting it on show you compromise it It must
be read in your features and in your deeds, not m sentences that you
do not know why or for whom you are writing ”

Get along without God I mean get along without the idea
of God, without a belief in an attentive, tutelary, and retributive Provi-
dence not everyone can achieve this

The blinded bat is nevertheless able to avoid the wires that have
been strung in the room where it is now flying without bumping any-
thing And probably it senses at a distance, in the nocturnal air, the
passage of this or that insect on which it will feed It does not fly at
random, and its gait, which strikes us as whimsical, is motivated
Space is full of vibrations, of rays, that our senses cannot perceive, but

that are caught by the antennas of insects What connection between
our sensations and their cause? Without a sensitive receiver, nature is
mute, colorless, odorless It is m us, through us, thanks to us, that
number becomes harmony

The wonderful thmg is that man has been able to construct instru-
ments capable of makmg up for the insufficiency of his senses, of catch-
ing imperceptible waves and unheard vibrations With our senses we
already had enough to satisfy us, the rest is excess But whether or not
we wish it, that rest is there Man has rashly enlarged his receptivity
and immoderately mcreased his power A pity that he is not more up
to ltf He behaves badly Lack of habit perhaps (let us hope so), all
this is so newl He trespasses and is overwhelmed

When I had learned that little bows of ribbon were called rosettes
(how old was I then? five or six ) I got hold of a large number of
them, m my mothers workbasket, then, having closed myself m a room
far from others* eyes which might have broken the charm, I laid out
on the floor a whole flowerbed, a whole garden of them Were they not
flowers? The word said so It was enough to believe so And I strove
to do so for a whole quarter of an hour Did not succeed

On a childish plane this marked the defeat of nominalism And per-
haps after all I lacked imagination But above all I recall very well
having said to myself '"What a fool I am! What is the meaning of this
comedy? There is nothing there but bits of ribbon, that is all *
and I went and put them back in my mothers little basket

The harshness of the epoch is such that we find it hard to imagine
(or, rather, are unwilling to admit) that there could have been such
a tragic one at any other moment m history Better informed, we should
perhaps get to the pomt of bemg convinced that, quite on the con-
trary, the exceptional was the long period of toleration in which we
lived before the unleashing of the horrors (which decidedly feel at
home on earth) — so natural seemed to us that intellectual freedom,
so lamentably compromised today Now a time is returning m which
all will be traitors who do not think "properly "

Some, it is true, are still resisting, and they are the only ones who
count It matters little that they are not very numerous it is m them
that the idea of God has taken refuge

But the temptation that it is hardest to resist, for youth, is that of
"committing oneself/* as they say Everything urges them to do so, and
the cleverest sophistries, the apparently noblest, the most urgent, mo-
tives One would have accomplished much if one persuaded youth
that it is through carelessness and laziness that it commits itself,

if one persuaded youth that it is essential — not to be this or
that, but — to be

28 o

One constantly flatters oneself, or at least one has a tendency to
flatter oneself Self-mdulgence is a trap into which I have such a great
fear of falling that I have often been able to doubt the sincerity (the
authenticity) of impulses, which none the less were natural to me, the
moment they tended in the direction I might have hoped they would
(My sentence is frightfully complicated, but impossible to express this
more simply ) Yet I had to admit that those impulses, those “spiritual
states,” were natural when I found them, exactly the same, m my
daughter as a mere child, m particular a certain basic optimism, which
in me I had feared to be the result of will

As Catherine was asked, somewhat foolishly it seems to me “Where
do you prefer to be? In Saint-Clair” (where she then was) “or m
Paris?” she first evidenced a great surprise she could hardly under-
stand tha t such a question deserved to be asked, then she eventually
replied ingenuously "Why, m Samt-Clair, since I am there ” ( She must
have been hardly more than five at the time ) And suddenly I recog-
nized in her the very basis of my own nature and the secret of my
happiness, a “so be it” shown likewise in the great difficulty, if not im-
possibility (in that child as m me), of producing and nourishing re-
grets 9

Take things, not for what they claim to be, but for what they are

Play the game with the hand one has

Insist upon oneself as one is

This does not keep one from struggling against all the lies, falsifica-
tions, etc, that men have contributed to and imposed on a natural
state of things, against which it is useless to revolt There is the in-
evitable and the modifiable Acceptance of the modifiable is m no wise
included m amor fati

This does not keep one, either, from demanding of oneself the best,
after one has recognized it as such For one does not make oneself any
more lifelike by giving precedence to the less good

PS — It strikes me today, as I take out these pages again, that I was
wrong to tear out those at the beginning of this notebook However
imperfect they were (I was recovering from an illness), they replied
in advance to the remarks made me by a friend in whose wisdom I have
great confidence, he never speaks uselessly and never says anything
that is not sensible He protests that these detached pages, which I
have just given him to read, are much less subversive than I seemed
to think at first, that even many eminent representatives of the Church

9 For an earlier version of this story, see The Journals of AndrS Gide ,
Vol HI, p 83

of today would be willing to subscribe to them, and he cites a few
names that I am careful not to reproduce Already X and Y had told
me this, maintaining that I didn’t know very well the present state of
the Church, the intelligent flexibility of its credo I granted him that
I was not at all * up to date” and that, for greater convenience doubt-
less, I confined myself to what Bossuet taught that the moment Varia-
tions were involved, these could only be the Variations of the Protes-
tant Churches (according to the title of his admirable work), from
which the Catholic Church was distinguished by “its character of im-
mutability m faith ”

“To be sure,” he continues, “yet it is constantly evolvmg You would
like to dry it up by making of it a perfectly finished thmg, it is living
and replies to new demands Remember the fine pages by Chesterton
that Claudel had translated and that you yourself made me read in
m the old N RF 10 The Church, he said, is never motionless, and he
compared it to a chariot hurtling at full speed on a narrow crest and
constantly avoiding new dangers on both sides “There is no doubt,”
my friend continues, “that enlightened Catholics would not be both-
ered at all by your recent assertions What they call God you are free
to name Virtue if you wish, simply a question of words, it is the same
thmg The idea of God, the need for God, torments you, they ask noth-
ing more m order to recognize you as one of theirs ” And since, never-
theless, I protest that there is some misunderstanding, since I look for
something that will make them reject me after all, I return to those
opening pages, the first ones written in this notebook, those imper-
fect and tom-up pages they concerned eternal life a sort of pre-
monitory instinct urged me to emphasize them, to speak of that first,
and I now realize that it was indeed essential to begin with that

That the life of the “soul” is prolonged beyond the dissolution of
the flesh seems to me inadmissible, unthinkable, and my reason pro-
tests against it, just as it does agamst the incessant multiplication of
souls (May 1948 )

10 Claudel translated a few pages entitled “The Paradoxes of Christian-
ity” from Chapter xu of Chesterton's Orthodoxy , which appeared m the
August 1910 issue of the NouveUe Revue Frangaise

Neuchdtel, 5 January

T have not kept a journal for more than a year I have lost the habit
I did not exactly promise myself to resume it, but all the same I should
like to try, for in the state m which I am at present, I fear that any
other attempted production will be destined to failure I have just re-
read with disgust the few pages I had written at Neuchatel, they smack
of effort, and the tone strikes me as stilted Doubtless they were not
written naturally and they betray an anxiety to escape certain re-
proaches, which it is absurd to take into account My great strength,
even in the past, was being very little concerned with opinion and not
trying to construct myself consistently, writing as simply as possible
and without trying to prove anything 1

6 January

Interrupted yesterday by the arrival of the mail My mommg is
spoiled And every day it begms all over again “Here lies P V , killed
by others,” the epitaph Paul Valery wished for “Others” ah, if
only I could get myself to pay a little less attention to them! And yet
most often I reply to scarcely more than one letter out of six (there
are such unbelievably absurd ones! ) But as soon as I do reply, I cannot
do so with indifference, and, thereupon, it takes time

Every morning I get up with very little strength to squander, I
should like to save a little for myself But then I should have to suc-
ceed in convincing myself that what I am writing can still be worth
something These last few weeks I got to the pomt of completely
sacrificing meditation and reading, even that of Vngil, whom I had not
failed a single day since Algiers, washing my mind of all stains, find-
ing in him a sort of appeasement, of comforting, and of ineffable
serenity I had nevertheless been led to dimmish the doses consider-
ably, but at least unwilling to go to sleep before indulging in fifty to a
hundred lines of him And for weeks on end I went back through him
methodically, but at times also amusing myself by opening him at ran-
dom, with what delight at finding my way so easily! and yet at con-
stantly discovering new reasons to admire him, and more intelligently,
which nothing but a more rapid readmg allows (Despite the pious
and piteous and pitiable character of the hero, and all that Saint-
fivremond, and so justly, thinks of him

1 Yet it is these pages, reworked, that I wish to put into this Journal,
just as I once brought back into my Journal the “green notebook” of Num-
quid ettu ? [A.]

Extemplo JEnese solvumur fngore membra,

Ingemit , et duphces tendens ad sidera palmas
thus it is that Virgil first presents him to us )

To be sure, I feel much closer to Lucretius, but do not enjoy the
same delights m his lines, an unequaled suavity And what can be
said of the very composition of each book of the JE neid? of its position
in the whole? of the relationships of the books among themselves?

On the occasion of Tristan Bernard’s death many of his amusing
witticisms were cited, but never, so far as I know, this one, which I
feel it a duty to preserve

In '41, 1 believe, when I was in Nice, he gave a lecture at Cannes,
which I regret not having been able to attend Before beginning, I was
told, he presented himself before the audience “I believe it a duty
to warn you that I am myself a member of that people which has been
often called "the chosen people ’ Chosen? * He repeated the
word with ever increasing doubt, then suddenly, as if having dis-
covered the key "In short, chosen by lot — by the carload lot* 3

Most of the witticisms that are repeated are deformed, often simply
because the mtonation is not there There are very few that are not
differently interpretable whether one turns or inclines them to right
or left It often seems to me, when I hear some such repeated inten-
tionally, that that is not at all what their original author meant This is
what often makes intolerable certain of Benda’s utilizations , stupid if
one doesn’t go so far as to consider them unfair ( sallies of Valery, for
instance, that Benda takes, or pretends to take, seriously, and which
he uses to prove that ) When an intelligent man makes an effort
not to understand, he naturally succeeds much more cleverly than a
fool How can one discuss (and what is the use?) with someone who
has made up his mind to find you at fault? A pity! I should so much
enjoy talking with him, mcely, arm in arm, as we none the less did a
few times in the past I recall in particular a lunch at Lady Rother-
mere’s, she was concerned then, together with T S Eliot, with the
Criterion Benda and I were side by side at table It seemed to me (I
thought) that I got along so well with him! Both of us were talking, as
m a private conversation, of Peguy first, then of Chopin Ah, how in-
telligent, just, and sensitive and sensible everything he said of music
m general and of Chopin m particular seemed to me! It was as a re-

z “At once ^Eneas’ limbs grew slack and chill.

He groaned, and raising his two hands to the stars

(JEneid, I, 92-3 )

* This is an approximation of the original pun, which plays on "elected
by vote” ( en baUottage) and “driven from pillar to post” (en ballottage)

284

call of that conversation that I wrote, much later J'Like Chopin by
notes, one must let oneself be guided by words etc a sentence
that he now uses as an arm against me, pretending to see m it a con-
fession of some thin g or other that is detestable, for he enjoys only
being opposed to something And now that the Action frangaise is not
there to exe r c ise his pugnacity, he attacks those who are utterly amazed
to see him rise up as an adversary I could not get over learning (in
his Exercice d’un enterre vif) that at the N R F , as a result of some-
thing or other, I had gone more than a fortnight without being willing
to shake his hand' Such psychological aberrations befit a very poor
novelist, and I am convinced that the failure of L’Ordmation and of
Les Amorandes, and the resentment he felt at this, have much to do
with the elaboration of the thesis (in many ways so right, but con-
stantly distorted by passion and bias) that he sets forth in La France
byzantine * Since he has to see an enemy in me, he takes care not to
speak of my visit to Carcassonne (at the beginning of the war), of the
long conversation that followed the meal together, of which I had such
a charming recollection

Not so much intellectual shortcomings as flaws m character A pity!
On so many points I should agree so well with him!

8 January

Read little of late Worth noting, however, Zweig’s The Right to
Heresy Castellio against Calvin 5 (excellent translation), to be con-
sidered as a pendant (or as a counterpart) to Renan’s article (1848) on
Clerical Liberalism

"One is very close to burning m this world the people who are
burned in the other” (compare the story of Claudel’s flaming crSpe)

The wonderful lectures by Lenche at the College de France on
La Chirurgie de la douleur ,® which I had long been wanting to read
(told of them by Srmenon! ) but could not succeed in getting It goes
without saymg that, through ignorance, I am constantly losing the
thread, but the little that I can grasp and retain is so instructive! Com-

* Les Amorandes ( 1922) and VOrdmatwn ( 1926) are Benda’s unsuc-
cessful novels Byzantine France, or The Triumph of Pure Literature (1945)
is an essay, similar in spmt to his earlier Belphegor, attacking Gide, Valery,
Ala in, Giraudoux, Suares, and the surrealists and leading to an attempt to
define “the original psychology of the man of letters ”

* Castellio gegen Calvin oder, Ein Gewtssen gegen die Geioalt (1936),
by Stefan Zweig

* The twenty lectures given at the College de France by the professor

of medicine, Ren6 Lenche ( 1879— ) were published in 1937 and trans-

lated into English by Archibald Young in 1939 as The Surgery of Pain

pared with this, the poetical or pataphysical 7 8 elucubrations of X or
Z (to name no one) seem a strange twaddle

Not yet finished The Managerial Revolution by Burnham, so
warmly recommended by Roger Martin du Gard, to tell the truth, it
rather bores me (I shall get back to it )

New plunge into Simenon, I have just read six m a row
And Sartre's Reflexions sur la question jmve 8 Altogether somewhat
disappomted after all the (perhaps excessive) good that Pierre Herbart
had said of it The thesis advanced here is the very one that my friend
Schiffrm defended the characteristics of the Jews (I mean those that
you anti-Semites hold agamst them) are characteristics acquired
through the centuries, which you have forced them to acquire, etc I
recognize here certain arguments of the long conversation I had with
him, which have ceased to shock me Today that conversation seems
to me clever and specious rather than correct, despite the deep and
close affection I have always had, and increasingly so, for Schiffrm, in
whom, I must add, I recognized but very few of what might be con-
sidered Jewish shortcomings , but merely their good qualities Likewise
in the case of Leon Blum, for whom my esteem (and why not say my
admiration? ) has only increased durmg the long tune our friendship
has lasted, 9 but especially since tragic events have given him an oppor-
tunity to reveal his worth more amply (I am thinking particularly of
the smister — and for him glorious — Riom trial )

9 January

And it so happens that yesterday afternoon’s mail brought me a
stirring letter from Blum If this journal is ever divulged, that surpris-
ing coincidence will seem "faked” and the above paragraph written as
an afterthought Nothing of the sort

Our relations are very spaced out, yet without there ever having
been exactly any distance between us, but we live and operate m
different domams (or rather on different planes), where tangent pomts
are rare After all, he seems to me to have remained (for he always
was so) much more utopian and even mystical than I am willing to be
Interesting to note that, between the Jew and the Christian, it is on

7 In a "neo-scientrfic” work, The Deeds and Opinions of Dr Faustroll ,
the humorist Alfred Jarry had created the term “pataphysician” to indicate
one who displays great metaphysical and mathematical reasoning to demon-
strate an inherently absurd proposition

8 This little book, published by Paul Monhien in 1946, was issued an
New York in 1948 by Schocken Books as Anti-Semite and Jew in a transla-
tion by George J Becker (Baltimore William Wood & Company, 1939)

* Since the deaths of Valery and of Marcel Drouin, he remams the only
surviving inend of my generation [A ]

z86

his side that Hope and Faith are to be found But I have rarely en-
countered in a Christian such personal disinterestedness and such no-
bility I am very grateful to him for not holding against me the rather
harsh passages of my Journal about the Jews and about him (which,
by the way, I cannot disown, for I continue to think them utterly cor-
rect) He disregards them and has never spoken to me of them Just
like all of us, he has, to be sure, his shortcomings, and his seem to me
most particularly to be Jewish shortcomings But to what a degree
his good qualities, even (or especially) those that I believe specifically
Jewish, prevail! In my eyes he is an admirable representative both of
Semitism and of humanity, just as he managed to be, in his official
and political relations with foreign countries, an excellent representa-
tive of France (whatever the nationalists may think of this) and for
the greater honor of our country

I return to Sartres book However right certain of his most im-
portant affirmations seem to me (for instance, that “it is anti-Semitism
that creates the Jew”), only apparently paradoxical, it remains none
the less true that anti-Semitism is not (or not solely) an invention
made up out of whole cloth by hatred and the need of motivating and
feeding hatred Psychologically and historically, it has its raison ditre,
on which Sartre, it seems to me, does not throw sufficient light

When I was m Tunis m ’42, 1 had occasion to talk with several lycie
professors, “Aryans” themselves Each of them independently told me
(and this would have to be verified) that m each class and each sub-
ject the best pupils were Jews They were constantly at the head, and
over the head, of the others Even though this does not necessarily
mean that the Jews have a better mind than the “Aryans,” but perhaps
merely that the qualities of the latter, more profound, develop and
manifest themselves more slowly, I should be rather indited to be-
lieve this and am very wary of precocity None the less the die
is cast and now hearts are already sown with the seed of fierce pas-
sions, which will merely await an opportunity to come to the surface,
even if need be m violence, with that sort of permission and nght to
injustice which theoretical anti-Semitism provides t h *ro

From Sartre’s whole book, often pasty and diffuse, I retain this ex-
cellent passage

“The Jews are the mildest of men They are passionately opposed
to violence And that obstinate mildness they preserve amidst the most
frightful persecutions, that sense of justice and reason which they set
up as their sole defense against a hostile, brutal, and unjust society,
is perhaps the best of the message they hold for us and the true mark
of their greatness” Bravo, Sartre! I feel cordially in agreement But
there is none the less a “Jewish question,” painful and obsessive, and
far from being settled

We are stifling (the modem world), and tomorrow it will be worse,
in a dense forest of insoluble problems, in which, I fear, force alone —
and the most intentionally blind, the most monstrous and absurd, the
most brutal force — will be called upon to make light, to cut clearings,
to wm out

I am writing this while striving not to believe it, preferring to shout
"Fire!” before the house bums down and m order, if possible, to pre-
vent it from burning

10 January

In 1857 (Etude sur Etienne Quatremire), Renan already speaks
of “the undermining of the world by immorality, charlatanism, and
triviality ”

13 January

Finished Touriste de bananes, 10 one of the less successful novels of
Simenon One is rather vexed with him for this, smce in it he spoils
a marvelous subject, through haste and, one might say, impatience
Simenon’s subjects often have a profound psychological and ethical
interest, but insufficiently indicated, as if he were not aware of their
importance himself, or as if he expected the reader to catch the hint
This is what attracts and holds me in him He writes for “the vast
public,” to be sure, but delicate and refined readers find something
for them too as soon as they deign to take him seriously He makes
one reflect, and this is close to being the height of art, how superior
he is in this to those heavy novelists who do not spare us a single
commentary! Simenon sets forth a particular fact, perhaps of general
interest, but he is careful not to generalize, that is up to the reader

It was in great part, it was especially, the fear of bothering neigh-
bors that made me give up piano practice

19 January

However different V al6ry, Proust, Suares, Claudel, and I were
from one another, if I look for the way in which we might be recog-
nized to be of the same age, and I was about to say of the same team,
I think it is the great scorn we had for the things of the moment And
it was in this way that the more or less secret influence of Mallarm6
showed in us Yes, even Proust m his depiction of what we used to
call “the contingencies,” and Fargue, who of late has been writing in
the newspapers to earn a living, but still with a very clear conviction
that art operates in the eternal and debases itself by trying to serve
even the noblest causes I wrote “I call journalism everything that will
interest less tomorrow than it does today” Consequently nothing

10 Banana Tourist

288

seems to me at once more absurd and more justified than the reproach
that is directed at me today of never having managed to commit my-
self Indeed! And it is m this regard that the leaders of the new gen-
eration, who gauge a work according to its immediate efficacy, differ
most from us They also aim for an immediate success, whereas we
considered it quite natural to remain unknown, unappreciated, and
disdained until after forty-five We were banking on time, concerned
only with forming a lasting work like those we admired, on which time
has but little hold and which aspire to seem as moving and timely to-
morrow as today

Nevertheless, when there was a need to bear witness , I did not at
all fear to commit myself, and Sartre admitted this with complete good
faith But the Souvenirs de la Cour £ Assises have almost no relation
to literature, any more than the campaign against the Great Conces-
sionary Companies of the Congo or the Retour de VU RS S

22 January

Gandhis victory, his pacific triumph, seems to me one of the most
surprising facts of history Pierre Herbart, who has come to spend two
days with me, is as much moved by it as I We spoke of it at once
and at length Is it appropriate to deplore the fact that such a miracle
of unanimity among a whole people cannot be achieved, or even sought
for, by a Latm or Anglo-Saxon people? Subject of infinite discussion
But the wonderful thing is that that unanimity should take place m
favor of a renunciation Strange example of a virtuous “totalitari-
anism”

24 January

No shame as a result of facile sensual pleasures Sort of vulgar para-
dise and communion through the basest in man The important thing
is not attributing any importance to them, or not thinking oneself de-
based by them the mind is m no wise involved in them, any more than
the soul, which does not pay much attention to them But, m the adven-
ture, an extraordinary amusement and pleasure accompany the joy of
discovery and of novelty

25 January

Harmony! Harmony!

Language that genius invented for love!

Which came to vs from Italy , and to her from heaven ! u

11 The lines

Harmome! Harmome!
Langue que pour Tamour mventa le genie!

Qui nous vtns ctltahe , et qui lui mns des cieux!
are from Alfred de Musset's elegy Lucie

One cannot imagine anything more vapid Enough to justify Valery’s
scorn and hatred for Musset

“A barber’s assistant with a pretty music box m his heart,” Fran-
gois de Witt sententiously uttered about Musset (we must not have
been more than sixteen), I can still hear him, on the road from La
Roque to Val Richer ( He had read that remark somewhere or other )
It is a very frequent failing to hide one’s sources, or one’s tribu-
taries, as would a stream of very small volume that might think it
could thus increase its importance Great minds have never feared
to testify to others’ contributions to their work, and with gratitude
It is a failing of our epoch to give too much value to originality
There is not one of the great writers of the seventeenth century who
was not (and did not admit to being) an imitator But m our day what
is most prized m music, painting, or literature is new departures, even
if they lead to nothing, with hardly any concern left for that transmis-
sion, that continuity, of which real culture is made

30 January

Gandhi has just been murdered by a Hindu Pierre has just rung
me to tell me Two days ago already a bomb had been thrown at him
It was too beautiful, it was unbelievable, that mystical victory in which
spiritual ardor held brutality at a respectful distance, my heart is filled
with admiration for that superhuman figure, filled with sobs This is
like a defeat for God, a step backward

All the asmimties people manage to bring out on the subject of sin-
cerity when aiming to throw it into disrepute, this is only too easy, by
pretending to confuse it with cynicism, exhibitionism, etc Even Val&ry
said some wonderful stupidities on the subject

Mme Theo told me this of Catherine She was only a few months
old when she had to undergo a little operation for an mflammation of
the eye, which was very pamful, at least for a few moments She
screams, then suddenly stops, and the doctor exclaims “Well, by Jove!
that is really out of the ordinary a baby who stops crying as soon as
it has ceased suffering!”

That example of sincerity on the part of my daughter delights me

There are many things that I find more interesting than myself

When the fruit is ripe, it will leave the branch by itself If you try
to tear it off, you will only strengthen it by putting it on the defensive,
and your fingers wall smart Leave religions alone, then, and let the
sap gradually withdraw from them

290

But no, please understand that this is an experiment I must make
myself No one else can attempt it in my place It would not have
the same meaning

Du style didees by Benda 12

Almost always I am in agreement with Benda against the apocry-
phal "ideas” he attributes to me (or to Valery) In him scorn is almost
always based on a misunderstanding, and his strength comes from the
fact that he doesn’t care a bit

11 April

The Malatesta that Montherlant has just sent me, which I finished
reading last night, seems to me a very mediocre work 18 Mediocre to the
point of making me regret the very cordial letter thanking him for
this Malatesta, which I was probably quite wrong to write and send
to him before reading it Decidedly I cannot maintain my esteem for
so waxy a man, however good a writer he may be

Malraux too is following the fashion just as Mauriac would, he
writes ( Psychology de Fart) “Aussi differentes que soient leurs re-
cherches ” where in my opinion “Si diffdrentes ” or “Pour dif-
fdrentes ” would be far preferable Grevisse, m his excellent Bon
Usage, 1 * points out the error and says some good things about it

Curious to know what “competent” connoisseurs think of the so re-
markable Magdalen with the Vigil Light reproduced in colors in La
Psychology de Tart 15 Authentically by Georges de Latour? I cannot
believe it

8 June

There is nothing to do but pick up the thread, without explanation
and as if nothing had happened Summer (after frigid days, now we
have warm, glorious days ) helps me return to life Yes, suddenly
I caught myself enjoying life again Last night, in a sort of joyous in-
toxication and new lease of life, I could not resign myself to going to
bed until after midnight, and tbs mommg I was awake before seven

11 An essay by Juhen Benda appeared in 1948 with the tide Concern-
ing the Style of Ideas, Reflections on Thought, Its Nature, Its Realizations
Its Moral Value

18 Henry de Montherlant’s four-act play on the subject of Sigismondo
Malatesta appeared in early 1948

14 Good Usage Course t n French Grammar and Language , by Maurice
Grevisse

15 The first volume of Andr4 Malraux’s Psychology of Art, entitled The
Imaginary Museum, appeared in Geneva in 1947, The Magdalen with the
Vigil Light, on p 149, is from the Tesch Collection m Pans

o’clock I should have worked admirably if my whole morning (it is
now half past twelve ) had not been taken up by correspondence, like
every day, or almost — and almost exclusively letters of refusal or ex-
cuse That puts you m a sort of cantankerous state of mind, at least m
a defensive state from which your friends run the risk of suffering It
wrinkles one’s forehead and heart, and I am dreadfully sorry not to
have been able to give a better welcome to Jef Last, who was consid-
erably affected by my insufficiently cordial reception He might have
attributed it to some coolmg of my friendship, whereas I was simply
out of patience How painful it is not to be able to suffice f I lack time
and strength I went through a long period of almost constant fatigue
in which I longed to get out of the game, but impossible to withdraw
And just as m economics “bad money drives away the good,” bores and
intruders usurp and take over the field as masters, all that remams is
theirs

The worst is allowing people to think “Yes, since the Nobel Prize,
Gide has become distant ” After that there remams nothmg but to go
and drown or hang oneself And it so happens that since the warmth
has returned, I have ceased to have any desire to do so But before
that, on certam days, I felt as if already completely detached, this,
however, held me back the impossibility of getting anyone to under-
stand, to accept, the real reason for a suicide, at least, this way I shall
be left alone and in peace But go away on a trip already on the
steps of the train, what a relief to feel out of reach, liberated! But go
where? I think of that little hotel that Alix told me about (I noted it
down) m a fishing village on Lago di Garda If only I were sure of
finding room there Constantly called upon, I must put off from
day to day, and constantly I hear the eldest of the Fates whispering m
my ear, you haven’t much time left

If I were not constantly and absurdly disturbed, it seems to me
that I could write marvels, with the aid of the warmth I am re-
suming interest m life

I am writing all this at full speed, with the fear of not bemg able
to finis h, but with the constant preoccupation of much more interest-
ing thin gs I should like to say m particular the discovery I made the
day before yesterday in Charlie Du Bos’s Journal 19

11 June

What an extraordinary monument! One has no sooner entered it
than every possible exit closes (Ah, if only I had a little time to myself
to speak of it!) Even the most refractory, like Jean Schlumberger, are

16 The critic Charles Du Bos died m 1939 leaving extensive manuscripts
and typescripts of his Journal , which his widow began to publish in 1948

2X)2

caught He admitted this to me yesterday, but I do not recall to what
substantive he added the adjective “heady ” As soon as one consented
to lend oneself to it, to give oneself to it, to forget the rest of the world
and physical realities, nothing was more engaging, charming, intox-
icating than Charlie’s conversation No remark, except vulgar ones, fell
flat with him It was like a game, absolutely gratuitous, in which I used
to amuse myself like a child, inventing new pretexts for subtleties I
had imagined the various “tempi” of prose writers I might just as well
have launched him on the odors, the irradiations of the poets, their
temperature, their varying degrees of porosity He immediately
blossomed out and held forth for hours To such intellectual games he
brought a sort of genius, but the most wonderful thing is that he took
them seriously

A few sentences in that extraordinary Journal (where our relations
are mentioned every six pages ) have thrown a new light on his sudden
change of attitude m regard to me It was a sort of revelation for me,
the day before yesterday They can be read on page 356 of Volume II,
under date of “Tuesday, 28 April 1925” — and he adds with his custom-
ary attention to detail (the preciosity of useless exactness and hon-
esty) “9 25 a m ” I give up transcribing at length the endless sentence,
the beginning of which is already directed agamst me, m regard to the
sale of my library Then he gets to this, following a new paren-
thesis “(here it is indispensable to be altogether sincere)” — “all this
subterraneously nourished by my resolution, no less formal and no less
well kept, of hiding from him the disappointment I experienced as a
result of his total abstention regarding me during the period of choos-
ing an editor for the NR F *

This took place soon after the death of Riviere Yes, we suspected
all right, or some of us did, that Charlie would have wished nothing
better than to succeed him, but we were utterly convinced (it is
enough to read his Journal to see the justice of our fears) that Charlie’s
“editorship” would have led the N RF to rum (I can stdl hear Jean
Schlumberger’s saying “He will put us in the soup ”) I had seen our
friend Ch D B at work, noted his lack of “common sense,” his total
incapacity when faced with difficulties of a practical nature, at the
time of the Foyer Franco-Beige 17 Du Bos chief editor of the N RF l
This was not even considered His candidature was not even proposed
I knew all this and suspected that he had felt some disappointment
But I had not been aware of the profound and lasting bitterness left
by that blighted hope It was the “turntable” that suddenly directed

17 At the beginning of the war, in 1914-16, Gide was assistant director
of the Foyer Franco-Beige, a charitable organization, and Du Bos was m
charge of one of its sections

against me his Dialogue avec AndrS Gtde , begun m enthusiasm 18 (Very
much worked up likewise against Gallimard and the neighborhood of
the N RF ) Odd to see a mmd so concerned with equity and fairness
at the mercy of the most distorting passions, and so accessible to flat-
tery!

I admire all the more the excellent pages (m Approximations , I be-
lieve, but I don’t know in which volume ) where Charlie speaks of the
social question with extraordinary wisdom, pertinence, and even com-
petence, which I was far from expecting of one so remote from con-
tingencies

Constantly interrupted, impossible to write anything consecutive,
anythmg worth while

Great pleasure in working with Jean L , put the last touches to the
Anthologie

In the Annales du Centre Umversitaire MediterranSen, great pleas-
ure m finding the course of lectures by Father Valensm on VArt et la
pensSe de Platon 19 He signs Auguste Valensm, for he dislikes that sort
of insulator that his cassock might constitute in his relations with the
public, with others, and one is most grateful to him for remaining as
much as possible on the human plane, for putting himself on our level
Equally grateful for tackling without being frightened certam ticklish
questions He speaks of them very well with die decorum one might
expect of his cassock, and with a sort of boldness one did not dare
hope for None the less he is forced to cheat a bit without intending to
and without knowing it For, after all, that victorious chastity he pro-
poses was not a pagan ideal, not even, it seems (or only exceptionally),
according to Plato, who seeks above all the harmonious well-being of
the City and, as Valensm says “A single purpose dominates every-
thing to make sure of fine types of humanity n So that the question
remains altogether urgent, which he scamps and ought not to avoid
That superabundance of pollen which bothers the adolescent, how is
it gomg to manage to expend itself? Does he hope that abstmence
will completely resorb it? He is well aware that this is not so, or only
very exceptionally, and with a view to some ideal of holiness that
Christianity alone can legitimize It is on this precise pomt that
we find him cheating the demands of the flesh are overlooked, the
necessary relief of the glands, for which there are but a few solutions,
not mentioned and understandably so masturbation or spontaneous
emissions during sleep, and with what erotic dreams? Here Plato him-
self cheats by purifying all that, which remains altogether real, and

18 Du Bos’s very valuable Dialogue with Andre Gide appeared m 1929

18 The Art and Thought of Plato was a course given at the Mediter-
ranean University Center at Nice

294

material, and practical I maintain that the order of the city is less
compromised by the sought-after contact between young males (it is
of less consequence ) than when the libido immediately directs the de-
sires of those adolescents toward the other sex I cannot believe that
those relationships of adolescents such as antiquity offers, either among
themselves or with elders, remained chaste — that is to say, unaccom-
panied by relieving emissions And if Plato does not speak of this, it
is because of propriety and because, the thing being taken for granted,
it became useless and indecorous to speak of it Plato is well aware that
when Socrates eludes the offers and provocations of Alcibiades, he is
offering a sort of almost paradoxical ideal, which simultaneously evokes
admiration and smiles because it is not natural and can serve as an ex-
ample for but a few He thus rises above humanity, you will say, but
with a view to what mystical reward or satisfaction of pride?

And when Valensm writes “Consequently the question is answered
Plato cannot be annexed by the partisans of vice” (this pejorative
word already mvolves a judgment that is not appropriate, for no vice
was involved, properly speaking, m the eyes of Plato's contemporaries),
‘he condemns the behavior of die vulgar Venus He condemns it to the
same extent that he approves and encourages that of the celestial
Venus,” he is speaking as much of heterosexual relationships as of
homosexual ones Plato opposes virtue and indulgence m pleasure,
whatever pleasure it may be

Torn del Benaco

The Jews likewise, from being the oppressed, became the op-
pressors, as it happens, apparently necessarily, when religious convic-
tions have the support of power — or, to express it more simply, have
the power

“As certain resounding incidents indicate, the punishment inflicted
on Vnel de Coste, the excommunication of Juan de Prado, that of
Spinoza even, the Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam did not take
long to exercise a jealous surveillance over the opinions of the fai thf ul,
nor the pious zeal of the community to become intolerance * (Charles
Appuhn Introduction to Selections from Spinoza )

Text of the excommunication pronounced against Spinoza on 2 July
1656 “May he be cursed by day and by night May God never
forgive him We order that no one have commerce with him by speech
or in writing, that no one ever give him the least sign of friendship, or
approach him or live under the same roof as he, that no one read a work
written or composed by him ”

8 September

These last days of life seem the most difficult to live through, but
this must be an illusion, for one has only to leave it to time, and to

gravity Valery used to get angry at the fact that more importance
is given to the last moments of a life than to all the rest, this m relation
to last-minute conversions I believe that not even he escaped the devo-
tion of his family, but I have so much respect myself for the sentiments
that, m such a case, motivate one’s relatives that I prefer to beat a re-
treat, as perhaps Valery did too And what more would that prove
than, most likely, a great conjugal love, which is certainly worth sacri-
ficing something to, that something, after all, not havmg so much im-
portance when it is given the lie by the entire work But the use that
is then made of it! The contradiction of the entire work that people try
to see m it This is what must stiffen you

An extraordinary, an insatiable need to love and be loved, I believe
this is what dommated my life and urged me to write, an almost mys-
tical need, moreover, since I consented to its not being satisfied during
my lifetime

Torri del Benaco , 7 September

I believe I am sincere in saymg that death does not frighten me
much (I am constantly thinking of it), but I see the summer go by
with a sort of despair

Never before had I seen such a long series of such beautiful, such
splendid days

Here since the 22nd of July, I believe, first with Marc (m the Hud-
son bought from Pierre, with a stop at Locarno and crossing of the
Gothard), then with Pierre In August, unbearable heat and suffoca-
tion Besides otitis and weakness of the heart The heart is hardly any
better, it seems to me (no pam, but insufficiency and a constant feel-
ing of insecurity such as the skater experiences when venturing onto ice
that he feels to be thm and ready to break under him)

Two wonderful and amazmg storms

Fluctibus et fremttu assurgens Benace marino 20

But since the beginning of September the air is light, the midday
heat is no longer excessive, the mornings and evenings are cool To the
daily splendor is added a constant feeling of death near by which
makes me keep repeating to myself that these fine days are the last for
me I am writing this without bitterness

“Humanity’s return to its ancient errors, supposedly indispensable
to its morality, would be worse than its complete demoralization ”

20 “You, Lake Benacus, surging up with waves and a roar like the sea,”
is from Virgil Georgies , II, 160 Benacus is the modem Lago di Garda, on
the shore of which stands Tom del Benaco

zgb

I gather this sentence from the pasty verbiage of Renan s Examen
de conscience philosophique 21 ( The date is not given )

Wonderful concert (on the radio) devoted to Paganini At first I
hesitated to recognize him, somewhat too stuffed and stifled by Brahms

Arrived at Grasse on 15 September, in the evening I let Pierre
hasten to Les Audides and do not go myself until the morning of the
16th The pleasures of seeing old friends again, but already death has
slipped between me and things (people a little less), and the union
can no longer be effected I have taken leave, I have my leave, there
is no occasion to reconsider And there is even added a sort of aesthetic
disapproval of this postscrvptum , which does not fuse with the whole,
but remains outside as an appendix, an extra The Catholic will
claim that this overtime is granted me by God, m his infinite kindness,
to allow me an exemplary conversion

* 18 October

Went to get Mme Th6o at Cabns to bring her back to Nice, leavmg
the modest but very pleasant Pension des Cigognes, insufficient for
Mme Theo

Strange negligence of people I carefully spelled out the address of
Les Cigognes for the use of a few rare correspondents “16 rue Mac-
carani ” Out of ten envelopes the mail brmgs me, not one copies the
address correctly Five ways of misspelling the name of the street
Macearom, Macarmi, Macanam, etc

Mougins, 30 October
When science got to the point of specializing, requiring a pa-
tient apprenticeship and, consequently, making impossible those great
universal busybodies of the eighteenth century See the beginning
of Butler s Life and Habit

Paris , IS December

Last words I do not see why one should try to pronounce
them louder than the others At least I do not feel the need of doing so

21 The Philosophic Self-Scrutiny

SO January

t*

• JLJiit don t believe that I recall having gone months, long series
of months, without working, without bemg able to work at all To such
a degree as not to understand just why I did not utterly collapse You
see, what saved me was a certain obstinacy, a certain strength in cling-
ing that kept me from lettmg go Yet I have lived at least ten years
of my life, if they were put end to end, in the belief that all was lost
and that I should never again manage to say anything Besides, on two
occasions I tiresomely persisted on the wrong track I spent as much
time spoiling UIntSret general and then Genevieve (of which I de-
stroyed almost everything) as in successfully completmg Les Faux -
Monnayeurs 1 Everything that I wrote then, invita Minerva , remamed
unspeakably mediocre

But doubtless it is not bad to find somethmg to blush over m ones
life, and without having to look very far

I note m Proust “Cela ne me souciait pas davantage ” 2 Indefensible,
I believe But no matter Cailleux’s book urges me to plunge agam
into Le Temps perdu , or, more exactly, mto he Temps retrouve, with
an even greater admiration than m the past 3

I pick out this gem from Les Lettres frangaises of 28 April 1949

“An ancient legend relates that two women had come before a very
wise judge, they were disputing over the possession of a certam infant
The woman who wanted to pass herself off as the mother answered
the judge "Cut the child m two ’ She spoke thus because the child was
not hers . ” (Ilya Ehrenburg Speech at the Congress of Feace )

Hospital in Nice

Each time that this or that great poet speaks to me intimately, in-
dividually, and reveals to me what the majority of his readers had

1 Neither the play Robert or the Common Weal (1944-5) nor the tale
Genevi&ve (1939), which closes the cycle of The School for Wvoes > is gen-
erally considered among Gide's major works, whereas The Counterfeiters
(1926) forms the cornerstone of his reputation

2 "That did not concern me any more ” Souoier is a personal verb and
one Would expect the sentence to read “Je ne me souciais pas davantage de
cela *

* Gide*s friend Dr Boland Cailleux recorded m Une Lecture (A Read-
ing) his impressions on reading Proust Le Temps retrouvi ( The Fast Re-
captured) is the final part of the long work known in English as Remem-
brance of Things Fast

2g6

perhaps not been able to hear in h i m , each time I reveal that secret he
entrusts to me, many people protest, accusing me of reading it mto him
That is not at all what he meant - But it lsl But it is! Peihaps he did
not mean solely that, but he meant that too, and I am not at all betray-
ing him by discovering that secret intention, which only fits his general
meanin g Is it Virgil or I who fills with profound meaning these few
words that he makes Nisus address to his Euryalus

Nisus ait Dme hunc ardorem mentibus addunt,

Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido p 4
That I see more in them today than Nisus himself could see there
is possible and likely, but I am not betraying him, or Virgil, whose
theology, or logic, or gemus, remains almost as vague and uncertain as
mmft But how I like that god that our very ardor fashions I look for
a good translation of that little sentence and can find nothing better
than what Pessonneaux offers “Is it the gods who mspire in my soul
the ardor I feel or does a violent desire become a god for each of us ?" 6
(“Or does not every violent desire become a god for each of us p ” )
The admirable conciseness of the Latm will always leave the in-
evitably explicit interpretation of the French far behind Nisus takes
care not to assert It might be that perhaps It is enough for
him that it might be, m order to forge ahead

15 May

I c ann ot really believe that it can take place without suffering (dis-
pense with suffering), that would be too easy One would bow out
and everything would be said No applause would have authority to
recall you to the stage I tell myself that most often the trouble
comes from the fact that people hang on tightly I consider it very
beautiful, at times, to see people elmg to life and be unwilling to let
go (there are admirable examples of this, such as the case of Guillau-
met®), but not always, not when one has lived, and in certain cases,
like mine, it is proper to consent

Spiritualistic to an unbelievable degree, he never went to pray, or
weep, or meditate over the tomb of his parents For that goes far back,
that disregard for matter which keeps it from holding his attention It
is as if he did not believe in it I say “he,” but that “he” is I No logic in
this, it is instinctive and spontaneous I can find no better example of it
than this when at Cuvemlle I was present at the lugubrious delivery of

* “Nisus cries ‘Do the gods, Euryalus, put this fire m our hearts, or does
his own wild longing become to each man a god?’ ” JEneid, IX, 184-5
5 Emile Pessonneaux’s translation of Virgil dates from 1857
® See The Journals of Andre Gtde, Vol III, pp 157—8

my sister-in-law — I mean by this that I had to help the doctor m the
dreadful operation to which he consented only after making sure that
the baby’s heart had stopped beating (he would have had to have re-
course to a Cassarean, but he did not have the surgical instruments) —
I had to hold my sister-in-law’s legs while he extracted what was already
nothing but a corpse No, I cannot relate that, nothing more pain-
ful can be imagined And I recall that later on, in the night, the two
of us alone and face to face beside that recumbent woman looked
at each other He was sweatmg “We are assassins,” he said “But when
the child has ceased to live, one tries to save the mother ” (The pangs
had lasted thirty hours ) Although she had not been put to sleep (it
was still contrary to principles, there has been progress smce), she
was lying unconscious Near her a jumbled mass of bloody, soiled
remains

When the morning came, “Get that out of the way,” I naively said
to the gardener’s wife when she at last came to see “how everything
was” Could I suppose that those amorphous fragments, to which I
pointed while turning away with disgust, could I suppose that in the
eyes of the Church they already represented the human and sacred
creature they were preparing to clothe? O mystery of the incarnation!
What was my amazement, a few hours later, when I saw it again,
which for me already had “no name m any language,” cleaned up,
dressed, bedecked with ribbons, lying m a little cradle in preparation
for the ritual entombment No one, fortunately, had been aware of
the sacrilege I had been on the pomt of committing, had already com-
mitted m thought, when I had said “Get that out of the way ” Yes,
quite happily that thoughtless command had been heard by no one
And I remained a long time lost m thought before it, before that little
face with the broken forehead carefully hidden, before that innocent
flesh which, if I had been alone, yielding to my first impulse, I should
have thrown onto a manure pile near the afterbirth, and which now
religious attentions had just saved from the abyss I told no one
what I experienced then, what I am relatmg here Was I to think that,
for a few moments, a soul had mhabited this body? It has its tomb at
Cuverville, in that cemetery to which I do not want to go back

Waif a century has passed I cannot say, to tell the truth, that
I exactly still see that little face No, what I recall precisely is my sur-
prise, my sudden emotion before its extraordinary beauty I had never
before seen anything, I have not smce seen anything, comparable The
faces of the dead can be beautiful Death often brings to our features
a sort of pal™ and serenity m the renunciation of life But that little
corpse had not lived, its beauty remamed utterly inexpressive Some
(some mothers especially) go about exclaiming over the beauty of the
newborn As for me, I do not believe 1 have ever seen a single other

300

one that did not seem to me almost hideous, I confess, shriveled,
grimacing, flushe d This one (it was partly to this that he obvi-
ously owed his beauty) had not known the pangs of being born And
it was probably not enough that his features were beautiful (my
sister-m-law was beautiful, my two other nephews and my niece weie
amnng the most beautiful children I have ever seen), but besides, al-
together bloodless, the substance of which he was made did not seem
like human flesh, but rather some ethereal substance, some translucent
and nacreous paraffin, some immaterial pulp, it seemed like the flesh of
a Eucharistic host A bow of blue satin (it would have been pink, the
gardeners wife told me, if the baby had been a girl) on the right side
of a dehcate lace bonnet, as m the portrait of an infant by Sustermans
(I believe), further emphasized the paleness of that face and of that
uninhabited forehead That little cranium had been emptied of the
brain matter, which had indeed been thrown on the manure pile with
the scraps from that frightful operation, the mucus and the placenta
This tale aims to prove what? That the soul is at a loss where to
take refuge when its carnal support disappears? The Church provided
for this when she enjoins us to believe in “the resurrection of the flesh ”
As for the soul, it goes without saying that I believe in it' Why, of
course I believe m the soul I believe m it as in the glow of phos-
phorus But I cannot imagine that glow without the phosphorus that
produces it In any case, I am not indulging m theories here Theories
and ratiocinations annoy me Animus, Ammum, Antma Such dis-
criminations make me dizzy, for I have reached the pomt of not even
distinguishing the soul from the body I cannot conceive of one with-
out the other In writing this I am merely suggestmg a personal at-
titude of mind that explains in my own eyes, without in any way jus-
tifying or excusing it, what I said earlier about the tomb of my parents,
and this too that I did not even dream of spending the night sitting
by the bedside of my dead wife It was all over A telegram announc-
ing her end had suddenly recalled me to Cuverville from Chitrd in
Poitou, where I was staying with a woman of my acquaintance I had
left my wife, a few days earlier, in a precarious state of health, to be
sure, but not an alarming one, so that I had left her without fear She
was not only what I loved the most in the world, but it even seemed
to me (it still seems to me today) that it was in relation to her that I
lived, and that, really, I depended on her Likewise I had been the
tragic occupation of her life And now it was over

I can see her again on her deathbed With no more of that smiling
amenity left which always tempered her gravity, she seemed like a
Jansemst painted by Philippe de Champaigne

I left there those mortal remains "Et nunc manet tn te” I said to
myself, or at least (for I had not yet discovered these significant words

m Virgil's Culex 7 ) I felt urgently that henceforth she lived on only in
my memory And if I return now to that image of the phosphorus
and its glow, it is to say that solely because of, and by virtue of, its
glow the phosphorus matters to me, that solely the glow matters to
me Oh, perhaps I should not speak in the same way if I had
loved her carnally And how explain that? — it was her soul that I loved,
and yet I did not believe in that soul I do not believe m the soul sepa-
rated from the body I believe that body and soul are one and the same
thing, and that when life has withdrawn from the body, it is all over
with both at once That arbitrary, artificial distinction between the
soul and the body — my reason protests against it I believe (I cannot
not believe) in their inevitable interdependence So I may well say
that the soul alone matters to me, but it cannot produce and manifest
itself, and I cannot understand and apprehend it save through the
body And it is through the body, despite all mysticism, that any mani-
festation of love becomes possible

In writing this I am well aware that I am not throwing any light
upon what remains the great mystery But you do not throw any light
whatever on it either by trying to give to the soul an existence distinct
from that of the body It even seems to me at times that it is because
of you and your distinctions that I cannot understand anything about
it, and that perhaps everything is simpler than you make it out You
shift and disperse the problem without solving it at all, and immedi-
ately you come up against many an impossibility

Chanter ez-vous quand serez vapor euse? 8
writes Valery in an admirable sob, which is tantamount to saymg
"Alas, great soul that I loved, I know that, without the vibrant body,
the soul is absent * Now, that soul that I know to be unable to exist
without the body, how could it then be immortal? I have already
written, I don't recall where, that there is probably no word of the
Gospel which I earlier or more completely adopted, subordinating my
being to it and letting it dominate my thoughts "My kmgdom is not
of this world ” So that "this world," which, for the mass of human be-
ings, alone exists — to tell the truth, I do not believe an it I believe an
the spiritual world, and all the rest is nothing to me But that spiritual
world, I believe that it has existence only through us, an us, that it de-
pends on us, on that support which our body provides it And when I
write " I believe that , ” there is no question whatever of an act of
faitfau I say "I believe” because there is no other way of expressing

7 "And now (she) remains in you” is found an Ime 269 of The Culex or
The Gnat , a poem of doubtful authorship often attributed to Virgil's youth

8 ‘Will you sing when you are vaporous?” is a line from he Ctmeti&re
matin ( The Cemetery by the Sea)

the establishment, by my reason, of that obvious fact What have I to
do with revelations ? I want to appeal solely to my reason — which is the
same and was the same at all times and for all men

Beneath which sprawls at ease my constant sensuality
I believe that there are not two separate worlds, the spiritual and
the material, and that it is useless to oppose them They are two aspects
of one and the same universe, as it is useless to oppose the soul and
the body Useless is the torment of the mmd that urges them to war
It is m their identification that I have found calm And that the spiritual
world prevails m sovereign importance is a notion of my mmd, which
depends intimately on my body, both conspire and agree m order to
achieve harmony m me I will not and cannot try to subject and sub-
ordinate one to the other, as the Christian ideal aims to do I know by
experience (for I long strove to do so) what it costs On whichever
side, body or soul, victory inclines, the victory is artificial and tem-
porary and we have eventually to pay the expenses of the conflict

16 May

Yes, I know all the indications are excellent (except that of the
white corpuscles), so that I do not know how to explain the over-
whelming fatigue of the last three days In the morning I have difficulty
* getting out of the sands”, quicksands I feel at the bottom of a slope
that it is not at all certain I shall climb back up Yet I am writing these
few lines m order to help do so

17 May

Goebbels s Diary

“In reality, we are carrying the torch that is lighting humanity”
(p 105) What is more dangerous than an ideologue m action!

I also note this sentence (p 118) “Schlepalberger always an-
swers me, when I urge him to action, that he lacks the legal justifica-
tion for acting We could obtain it for him ” Good Lord! That is indeed
the worst of it

Read the whole book with a most lively interest

Nuremberg Journal (G M Gilbert), lent by Roger Martin du Card
There would never have been a Hitler without the Versailles
Treaty” (p 225 and passim) How did it happen that at the moment
of signing the aforesaid treaty there was no one of sense to put us on
guard? The absurd imprudence of certain clauses of that treaty is
obvious No one, at that time, to point out that obvious fact Some trace
m my Journal of my convictions at that time? But yet there were a
few of us to think that, a few rare inoperative individuals

“You are making Hitler’s bed You are makmg Hitler necessary, to
be expected, inevitable

Roger Martin du Gard, to whom I communicate some reflections
on this subject, tells me that he thinks he indeed noted conversations
of ours at that time which show to what a degree we were in agree-
ment on all these points, and our consternation over the absurd clauses
of that treaty, which was the Pandora’s box that subsequently many
of the ills escaped from which we soon had to suffer, from which we
have not ceased suffering

Ut sementem feceris, ita metes 9

23 May

Too worn out, these last few days, to have a desire to note any-
thing But without pain or distress And I almost got to the pomt of
accepting ending up thus m a sort of numb daze I do not at all know
yet whether or not I am heading toward a convalescence It is not when
a member is dead with cold that one suffers, it is when life returns to
it Today, restlessness analogous to the twinges and tmgkngs in
fingers as they revive

27 May

Accumulation of days in the hospital, vague mass of more than a
mnnfh hes ita ting between better and worse Succession of days filled
almost solely with reading Sort of desert morass with the daily oasis,
charming beyond all hope, of the regular visits of the incomparable
friend that, during this long period of purgatory, Roger Martin du
Gard was for me His mere presence already provided me a link with
life, he forestalled all the needs of my mmd and body, and however
gloomy I might have been before his commg, I soon felt quite revived
by his remarks and by the affectionate attention he paid to mine I do
not know whether I could ever have been more aware m the past of the
ineffable blessmg of friendship And what an effacement (even exces-
sive) of his own mterest, of himself! No, no! Religion achieves nothing
better, or so naturally

The Anihologie so long awaited has finally appeared 10 Grosso
modo, very satisfied, and especially, perhaps, at not having made my
personal taste, it seems to me, prevail unduly I hope to have brought
to light a number of exquisite little poems that deserved to be known
and that I did not see quoted anywhere

* “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap ” ( Galatians vi, 7 )

10 The printing of his Anthology of French Poetry was finally finished on
31 March 1949

This mo rnin g I find a stumbling-block in Jammes’s particularly well-
turned-out poem “II va neiger dans quelques jours ” What is the
meaning, what could be the meanmg of

and the numbers

Which prove that beautiful comets will pass
In the night cannot force them to pass 11
Yes, it is exquisite, charming, and all the more idiotic since it
passes itself off as profound But all Jammes is there, all the absuidity
of his belief Those very "numbers” belong to Gods ordei, are God
Those l in es signify, vaguely, that God (the God of Jammes) is always
m a position to perform a miracle, not to feel bound by the laws that
he properly instituted It is Joshua, with the aid of God, capable of
stopping the sun Such a remark strikes me as outrageously impious,
and is saved only by its unconscious poetical incongruity Jammes’s
God would be free to keep a certain triangle from having its angles
equal to two right angles? Absurd! Absurd* Absurd like an un-
justified challenge to authority Useless to insist None the less, this little
poem is one of Jammes’s best

31 May

At Samt-Paul at last! Shall I dare confess now that I had but a feeble
hope of leaving the hospital alive? Here, what calm* Night has fallen
No other sound than the croaking of the frogs m rhythm Then, as if
m response to some mysterious signal or cue, all fall silent at once, then
all burst out again in chorus

1 June

In order for a convalescence to succeed properly, it requires the
complicity of spring

I note m La Rochefoucauld this maxim that I had not hitherto no-
ticed

“The wise man is better off not taking sides than he is on the vic-
torious side”

And this one too

“Quarrels would not last long if all the wrong were on one side ”

11 The lines

et les nombres

Qui prouvent que les belles cometes dans Tombre
Passer ont, ne les forceront pas d passer
are from the poem "It is Going to Snow * which Gide included m his
Anthologie

3 June

Reread Le Cabinet des antiques and Le P&re Gonot, and Hononne
(one of the best-written), in which Balzac uses the word compatissance
Curious to see if it is in Littre 12 It seems to me that compassion suffices
Strange need to transform into reflexive verbs (?) those which it
would be much more natural to use m the simple form

Un lac on se passe une tempite" <e Per$onne ne pent me
prouver que Vamour se recommence ” “Enfin ses grands yeux se remue-
rent" (La Grande BretSche ) * Des mansardes oil se sechait le
hnge en hiver" (La Vieille FiUe ) “Les tempes se miroitaient 99 (Ibid)
“Ces deux amants $ 9 escomptaient Tavemr ” (Ibid )

And even after a piece of gossip at second hand he adds * se
disait-on 99 for “disait-on 99

“Cette peur s augment e 99 (La Vieille Fille )

Ces mexphcables soifs quont les malheureux de se plonger
les levres dans leur cahce amer 99 (Ibid )

4 June

Some days it seems to me that if I had at hand a good pen, good
mk, and good paper, I should without difficulty write a masterpiece

10 June

Hugo enjoys rhyming two diphthongs, one counting as two sylla-
bles, the other as one I note in passing

Quun mn pur fosse fete aux poulardes fnandesl
Et que de cet amas de fncots et de vtandes 13
I had noticed others

12 The Cabinet of Antiquities , Old Gonot, and Hononne are parts of
The Human Comedy The noun compatissance figures neither in Littre nor
m the Dictionary of the French Academy, it is obviously formed from the
adjective compatissant, which means “compassionate,” “expressing compas-
sion ”

18 Let a pure tome honor these dainty fowV
And of this mound of victuals and meats
are lines spoken by Auolo m Hugo’s comedy M anger ont-ils? (Will They
Eat?), Act II, Scene m

7&ua- ** 'fu*t'£ * cnvt, i-t*

9as> ^s- <«> 7~&u*-*.*.C.

if/^ M t j so

* "These insignificant lines date from 12 June 1949 [«wc] Everything

leads me to think that they will be the last of this Journal — Andr6 Gide —
25 January 1950 *

APPENDIX I

Foreword to Pages de Journal

[New York and Algiers editions]

T

An these pages from the journal that I kept, quite irregularly by
the way, during the somber months following our defeat, I do not
recognize that I have any right to change anything I am not pretendmg
to be any more courageous than I was it was not until about March
1941 that I began to hold up my head somewhat again, and again took
heart A certam book by Chardonne that I read at that time contributed
to this by opposition and acted on my mmd like a reagent Then only
did I realize just where we stood, and m the first article I wrote on this
subject for the Figaro I made clear what I would not accept being The
contemplation of one's very swoons becomes an encouragement as soon
as one recovers from them Blessed be he who permitted and favored
the restoration of our dignity Today this recovery seems to us beautiful
in proportion to the depth of our fall

I should like these pages, and especially those of the beginning, to
be granted but a relative value if altogether they contain a lesson, let
it be in the manner of an intellectual itinerary by marking the stages of
a slow progress out of darkness into light

Rabat , 3 September 1943

APPENDIX II

Proceedings of the Provisional
Consultative Assembly

[Algiers, 7 July 1944 ]

QUESTION NO 27

The President I shall read question no 27
M Giovom asks the Commissioner for Information

“Is it possible to print in Algiers remarks such as these which I shall
quote without superfluous comment

* It is through the privations it involves, and only thereby, or al-
most, that the great majority will feel the defeat Less sugar m ones
coffee and less coffee m one’s cup, that is what they will feel ’

“ ‘Is there one among them [the farmers] who would not willingly
accept Descartes’s or Watteau’s being a German, or never having existed,
if that could make him sell his wheat for a few cents more- 3 ’

" The patriotic feeling is, moreover, no more constant than our other
loves *

"These remarks are by M Andre Gide and were printed m the
Apnl-May issue of the review V Arche

“Clemenceau is often spoken of His remark is often repeated "The
country will know that it is defended,’ and there was no question of
an Almereyda or a Lenoir

Tf Clemenceau were here, the author of these foul writings would
be already arrested, brought before the military court under the law
that punishes traitors with death in wartime, the managing editor of
that review would be brought before the same court, the review would
be suppressed and the paper that is allocated to it would be turned over
to the few patriotic newspapers and reviews of Algiers What does the
Commissioner for Information think of this?”

The Commissioner for Information “ These lmes are taken from the
Journal m which Andre Gide sets down, day by day and quite spon-
taneously, his impressions, his reflections, and his emotions

"The world has noted with great satisfaction how few were the
French writers of value who took sides with Vichy Almost all of them,
and Gide among them, understood the real duty of France and, refus-
ing Vichy’s paltry blandishments, prepared our country's return to

a majoi position m world literature Hence tomorrow the world is
sure to find France s contribution, intact and pure, to that literature ”
M Giovom "I knew that the lights of literature would be invoked, but
I believe that when the fate of our country is at stake, a well-known
writer must not publicly indulge m certain speculations colored with
narcissism and egocentricity

"Andre Gide has placed himself ‘above the fray*, the sounds of the
battle do not reach him He has seriously insulted the farmers and
peasants of France by accusing them, in almost the same terms as the
traitor Flandm once did, of ‘sordid materialism * He has insulted the pa-
triotism of the French and has today misjudged the French peasants as
much as he once did those of the USSR In short, this artificial writer
who has exercised such a murky influence over young minds indulges
m defeatism m the midst of the war His craze for originality and ex-
oticism, his lmmoralism and his perversity make of him a dangerous
individual

"Today literature is a weapon That is why I demand prison for
Andre Gide and public prosecution of the managing editor of V. Arche ”

appendix III

Letter from Mme Berthe Zuckerkandl,

Clemenceau s niece, then eighty-four years old,
who died m 1945

(this letter is reproduced at the request of Mme Zuckerkandl )

30 avenue Clemenceau
El Biar

9 July 1944

Dear Monsieur Gide,

We were all shocked on reading the latest report of the Consulta-
tive Assembly The ominous fool who made himself ridiculous by dar-
ing to attack your work had the impudence to make use of Clemenceau
m order to pass off his false patriotism and his totalitarian attack on
intellectual freedom I lived many years with Clemenceau I have
known the heights and the depths of his soul To be cited as a witness
by this presumptuous imbecile would have made him furious, and this
Giovom would have felt the Tiger s claw

Clemenceau, "the man in chains/' fought unflinchingly throughout
hs life against obscurantism As for the real nature of the peasant,
Clemenceau, despite his love of the soil and his friendship for those
who till it, would have been m agreement with you

Innumerable were the anecdotes that he and his brother Paul en-
joyed telling about the narrow egotism of the peasantry, which ex-
cluded any community of feeling based on the recognition of spiritual
values How many times have I heard Clemenceau exclaim

“The soil! Nothing but the soil! . ” They recognize nothing but
the soil and money!

I believe and am sure that Clemenceau, if he were alive, would
take his stand beside Gide to defend with him

The common hosts of our native morality the restless and radiant
spirit of France m quest of an ever loftier ideal l

As I protest m the name of Clemenceau, brought to the fore and
falsely cited for purposes of base demagogy, I merely regret not hav-
ing access to any newspaper in order to reply more vigorously to such
lamentable assertions

Respectfully,

Berthe Zuckerkandl

Glossary of Persons

MENTIONED IN VOLUME IV
OF THE JOURNALS

N B Not all the names listed m the Index are to be found in this
Glossary Servants, tradesmen, chance acquaintances, and others suffi-
ciently identified m the text — together with the most famous m all
domains — have been omitted here Other names have simply resisted
research

Originally intended to identify the specifically French names that
are presumably known to the author's compatriots, the Glossary has
grown m the making to include all the persons about whom English-
speaking readers might have questions

Certain names included m the Glossaries of Volumes I, II, and III
are reproduced here because they are mentioned again m this volume

J O’B

ABDALLAH, SI, Frenchman converted to Islam, who lives m the
Arab fashion m Fez

ACHARD, MARCEL (1899- ), French dramatist of fantasy and gay

burlesque, best known for his Jean de la lune ( 1929 )

ALAURANT, CAPTAIN, officer of the Leclerc division, who was much
influenced by Gide s Journals

ALBENIZ, ISAAC (1860-1909), Spanish composer often inspired by
folk themes

ALIBERT, FRANCOIS-PAUL (1873- ), French poet of Virgilian
temper, strongly influenced by Mallarme
ALLEGRET, ERIC, fourth son of Elie Allegret, the Protestant mis-
sionary and tutor of Andie Gide
ALLEGRET, MME MARC, n6e Nadme Vogel
ALLEGRET, MARC, third son of Elie Allegret, adopted by Andre
Gide, whom he accompanied on trip to the Congo (1925-6) Ex-
cellent scenario-writer, author of Lac aux dames
AMADO, JORGE (1912- ), Brazilian novelist, known m English for
The Violent Land

AMPHOUX, MR , neighbor who lived on the same floor as the Rey-
monds, avenue Roustan, in Tunis

AMROUCHE, JEAN (1906- ), French poet and editor of Arab
stock, bom at Ighfl-Ali (Kabylie), who edited m 1940-1, with
Armand Guibert, La Tumsie Frangaise lAtteraire and from 1943
to 1947 U Arche , which Andre Gide founded At present he con-
ducts literary interviews for Radiodiffusion Frangaise

312 Glossary of Persons

APPUHN, CHARLES (1862-1942), French historian and Germanic
specialist, head of the German section of the Bibliotheque et
Musee de la Guerre

ARAGON, LOUIS (1897- ), French poet, novelist, and journalist
who abandoned surrealism m favor of militant Communism, be-
came editor of the Communist daily Ce Soir before the wai, and
during the Geiman occupation was one of the most articulate
poets

ARON, ROBERT, French essayist on political, economic, and philo-
sophical subjects

ASTRE, G -A , French professor at the Lycee Carnot m Tunis, who
had recently arrived when Andre Gide heard him lecture m May
1942

AURY, DOMINIQUE, French writer and translator, reader for the
Editions Chariot, then managing editor of V Arche, at present
managing editor of Cahiers de la Pleiade

BACHRACH, ALEXANDRE, Lithuanian belonging to the Russian
colony of Grasse and intimate friend of Ivan Bunin

BAINVILLE, JACQUES (1879-1986), French historian and essayist,
long a contributor to Action Frangaise and founder with Massis
of the Revue Umverselle , elected to the Academy in 1935

BAKUNIN, MIKHAIL (1814-76), Russian anarchist

BALLARD, JEAN, French essayist and editor of the Marseille review
Les Cahiers du Sud

BARRAULT, JEAN-LOUIS (1911— ), French actor, and co-director,
with his wife, of the Compagnie Madeleine Renaud — Jean-Louis
Barrault, collaborated with Gide in adapting Kafka's The Trial for
the stage

BARRES, MAURICE (1862-1923), French novelist who early won a
place of distinction through his youthful “cult of the ego" and
then evolved into a traditionalist and advocated “the cult of the
earth and the dead", his novels of Alsace-Lorraine preached a re-
turn to regionalism and expressed his ardent nationalism

BARYE, ANTOINE LOUIS (1796—1875), French sculptor who spe-
cialized m representmg animals

BATAILLE, HENRY ( 1872—1922 ) , French dramatist of popular com-
edies of the psychology of love, such as Maman Cohbn and La
Marche mptiale

BECQUE, HENRY (1837-99), French realistic and satirical dramatist
of Les Corbeaux and La Parmenne , models of the naturalistic
theater

BENARD, LIEUTENANT JEAN-PIERRE, French officer under the
command of General Koenig, who had been Cairo correspondent

Glossary of Persons 313

of the Havas news agency, at present Secretary of Embassy in
Washington

BENDA, JULIEN (1867- ), French philosopher and essayist, who
has consistently defended mtellectualism against Bergson and
Sorel His best-known work is La Trahison des clercs (1927)

BENJAMIN, RENE (1885-1948), French popular dramatist and po-
lemicist

BERANGER, PIERRE JEAN DE (1780-1857), French writer of pop-
ular songs

BERAUD, HENRI (1885- ), French journalist and novelist

BERGSON, HENRI (1859-1941), French philosopher of “creative
evolution,” who exalted the faculty of intuition over the pure in-
tellect

BERNARD, CLAUDE (1813-78), French physiologist, known as the
founder of experimental medicine

BERNARD, TRISTAN (1866-1947), French comic dramatist, known
especially for L’ Anglais tel quon le parle, Le Petri Cafe, Tnple-

patte

BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE (1737-1814), French disciple of
Rousseau and pre-romantic writer, whose sentimental novel Paul
et Virgime (1787) sounded a new note in literature

BERSAUCOURT, ALBERT DE (1883- ), French literary cntic
who has written on the Parnassians and certain symbolist poets

BIDOU, HENRY (1873-1943), French historian and essayist, best
known for his History of the Great War, his Chopin, and his lit-
erary criticism

BLOY, LEON (1846-1917), French Catholic novelist and essayist of
passionate, iconoclastic vigor, most famous for the eight volumes
of his journal (1898-1920)

BLUCHER, GEBHARD-LEBERECHT VON (1742-1819), Prussian
general whose timely aid to Wellington at Waterloo decided the
battle^

BLUM, LEON (1872-1950), French critic, essayist, and political fig-
ure Member of the Council of State (1895), president of the
Socialist Party, director of the newspaper Le Populatre (1921-
40), Prime Minister (1936—7, 1938, and 1946)

BOILEAU, NICOLAS (1636-1711), French poet of the classic age,
best known for his Art of Poetry and his Satires, which established
him as the critical arbiter of the reign of Louis XIV

BOLESLAVSKI, RICHARD (1889- ), Polish volunteer in the Rus-
sian army in the first World War, who wrote interestingly of his
experiences as a Polish lancer

BORNIER, HENRI DE (1825-1901), French poet, and dramatist in
verse of La Fi He de Roland

314 Glossal of Persons

BOSSUET, JACQUES BENIGNE (1627-1704), French bishop and
fam ous preacher at the court of Louis XIV
BOURDET, MME EDOUARD, wife of the French dramatist, who
wrote a book on her husband

BOURDIL, ANDRE, brother-in-law of Jean Amrouche, painter who
maria an excellent portrait of Gide, later used as frontispiece to a
Swiss edition of L’lmmoraliste

BOURGET, PAUL (1852-1935), French novehst, dramatist, and es-
sayist, who with Anatole France and Maurice Barres dominated
the literary scene before the first World War His most charac-
teristic novels are the psychological study Le Disciple (1889) and
the sociological thesis L’Ltape (1902)

BOUSQUET, JOE (1898-1950), French poet and novelist who lived
in Carcassonne, condemned to immobility by his wounds received
in the first World War

BOUTELLEAU, GERARD (1915- ), son of the writer Jacques
Chardonne (Jacques Boutelleau) and at present one of the heads
of the publishing house of Stock m Paris
BOUTELLEAU, HOPE, Enghsh wife of Gerard Boutelleau
BREHM, ALFRED-EDMUND (1829-84), German traveler and nat-
uralist, author of an Illustrated Life of Animals
BRETON, ANDRE (1896- ), French poet, novelist, and critic, who
founded and led the surrealist group
BRISSON, PIERRE (1896- ), French journalist, at present editor of
the Paris Figaro, who is known for his drama criticism
BROMFIELD, LOUIS (1896- ), American novelist of The Green
Bay Tree, The Rams Came, etc , and essayist
BRUNETIERE, FERDINAND (1849-1906), scholarly French critic
and historian of literature, who applied theories of evolution-
ism to literary genres such as the novel, poetry, criticism, die
theater

BUCKLE, HENRY THOMAS (1821-62), English historian who ap-
plied the theories of Darwin and Comte in his History of Civiliza-
tion m England

BUFFON, GEORGES LOUIS LECLERC, COMTE DE (1707-88),
French naturalist

BUNIN, IVAN (1870- ), Russian novelist and writer of short stories
who earned on the tradition of Tolstoy and Chekhov Since the
Revolution he has hved in France, he received the Nobel Pnze
in 1933

BURNHAM, JAMES (1905- ), Amencan writer on philosophy and
political science, best known for The Managerial Revolution
(1941).

Glossary of Persons

3*5

BUSSY, DOROTHY, English translator of Andre Gide ( The Immoral-
tst. Strait Is the Gate, The Counterfeiters, etc ), sister of Lytton
Strachey and wife of the painter Simon Bussy
BUSSY, JANIE, daughter of Simon and Dorothy Bussy
BUSSY, SIMON (1870- ), French painter, pupil of Gustave Moreau,
m whose studio he worked contemporaneously with Matisse,
Rouault, Marquet, and others His works in oils and pastels con-
sist of landscapes, pictures of animals, and portraits, notably of
Valery and Gide

BUTLER, SAMUEL (1835-1902), English novelist of The Way of All
Flesh and vigorous satirist of Erewhon, etc

CACCIOPOLI, PROFESSOR, son-in-law of Bakunin and professor of
philosophy at Naples

CAILLEUX, DR ROLAND (1908- ), French doctor at Chatel-
guyon and author of several books, among which Une Lecture re-
counts the effect of readmg Proust Andre Gide’s doctor in Nice,
who drove him from Vence to Vichy m 1940
CAMUS, ALBERT (1913- ), French novelist of The Stranger, The
Plague, etc , dramatist, and essayist
CARCO, FRANCIS (pseud of Frangois Carcopmo-Tusoli, 1886- ),
French novelist, poet, and art critic, who has given literary exist-
ence to the life of the Pans underworld and sordid streets
CARDAN, GIROLAMO (1501-76), Italian mathematician, physician,
and astrologer, whose autobiography, De Vita 'propria, is appre-
ciated for its frankness

CARDUCCI, GIOSUE (1835-1907), Italian poet and scholar, spokes-
man of democracy, and vigorous satirist, received the Nobel Prize
m 1906

CARPEAUX, JEAN-BAPTISTE (1827-75), French sculptor
CATTAN, MAITRE, French lawyer in Tunis

CHACHA, MME DE GENTILE, Martiniquan widow of a Turns law-
yer and mother of Mme Theo Reymond
CHAMFORT, NICOLAS-SEBASTIEN ROCH, called DE (1741-94),
French moralist

CHAMPAIGNE, PHILIPPE DE (1602-74), French painter of Flem-
ish birth, known for his religious subjects and austere portraits
CHARDONNE, JACQUES (pseud of Jacques Boutelleau, 1884- ),
French novelist and essayist, appreciated for his delicate analyses
of spiritual and emotional problems Under his real name, he is
a member of the Stock publishing firm Elected to the Academy
in 1950

CHAHRAS, MLLE, school-teacher at Bourg-lez-Valence

3 i6 Glossary of Persons

CHASSERIAU, THEODORE (1819-56), French painter, pupil of
Ingres, known for his classical subjects
CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANCOIS-RENE DE (1768-1848), French
poet, novelist, essayist, and political figure, who ushered in the
romantic movement and left examples of a noble style for future
generations

CHATEAUBRIANT, ALPHONSE DE (1877- ), French novelist
who has specialized m depicting the country gentry of his native
Vendee, already before 1940 he had become an apologist of fas-
cism

CHENG-HUA, SHENG, Chinese professor of French, formerly at
the National University of Fuh-Tan, Shanghai, who has trans-
lated many of Gide s works

CHEVALIER, AUGUSTE (1873- ), French naturalist, professor at
the National Museum of Natural History
CLAUDEL, PAUL (1868- ), French poet and diplomat (Ambas-
sador to Tokyo and Washington), whose odes and verse dramas
(UAnnonce faite & Mane , Le Soulier de satin, etc ) struck a new
note of genius Elected to the Academy m 1946
CLODION (pseud of Claude Michel, 1738-1814), French sculptoi
CLOUARD, HENRI (1885- ), French critic and essayist of the neo-
classic revival, editor of the reactionary Revue critique des idees
et des Imres from 1908 to 1913

COCTEAU, JEAN (1889- ), French poet, novelist, and dramatist
long associated with all advanced artistic movements
COLETTE, SIDONIE GABRIELLE (1873- ), French novelist of
subjective and sensual inspiration, one of the great stylists of her
time

COPEAU, JACQUES (1879-1949), French critic and theatrical pro-
ducer, who, after founding the Nouvelle Revue Frangatse with
Gide and others in 1909, revolutionized the French theater in
1913 by creating the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier, with its new
style of simplicity and sincerity

CORTOT, ALFRED (1877- ), French pianist and conductor, direc-
tor of the ficole Normale de Musique in Paris
COUPERIN, FRANCOIS (1668-1733), French organist and composer
at the court of Louis XIV

COURTEUNE, GEORGES (pseud of Georges Momaux, 1860-1929),
French satirist in drama and fiction, who ridiculed officialdom m
civil and military life

COUSIN, VICTOR (1792-1867), French philosopher of electicism,
who became a peer and Minister of Education
CROCE, BENEDETTO (1366- ), Italian philosopher and historian

Glossary of Persons

V7

CURTIUS, ERNST-ROBERT (1886- ), German philologist and
critic, who has taught French history and literature at Bonn,
Marburg, and Heidelberg

CURVERS, ALEXIS, Belgian husband of Marie Delcourt

D’ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE (1863-1938), Italy’s greatest literary art-
ist since the mid-nineteenth century, who in his poems ( Laudt ,
etc ), his novels (II Fuoco, II Ptacere ) and plays (La Cittd, Morta,
La Gioconda) broke with classicism and introduced the new in-
spiration of foreign writers such as Hugo, Baudelaire, Whitman,
Bourget, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche Eventually, abandoning aesthet-
icism, sensualism, and his international reputation, he became the
national prophet of Italian imperialism

DAVET, YVONNE, friend and for many years secretary of Andr4
Gide, translator of George Orwell and author of a study of Gide’s
Nourntures terrestres

DAVID, JACQUES-LOUIS (1748-1825), French classical painter,
gifted m draftsmanship, of the Revolution and Empire

DEBUSSY, CLAUDE ACHILLE (1862-1918), French composer,
whose new harmonies and literary associations (as a faithful mem-
ber of Mallarmes group he composed lyric poems inspired by
Verlaine, Mallarme, Louys, Rossetti, etc ) led to the apotheosis
of symbolism m music m his opera Pelleas et Melisande (1902)

DE KRUIF, PAUL (1890- ), American writer of popular studies on

medical subjects

DELACROIX, EUGENE (1799-1863), French painter of the roman-
tic school, known for his brilliant color

DELCOURT, MARIE, Belgian classical scholar distinguished for her
Life of Euripides, studies of iEschylus, the legend of CEdipus,
Pericles, Erasmus, etc

DELILLE, JACQUES (1738-1813), French neoclassical poet of na-
ture and translator of Virgil’s Georgies
DELON, GUY, see Haddou, Si

DEMOLINS, EDMOND (1852-1907), French social scientist, editor
from 1886 to 1907 of La Science socmle, suwant la mdthode tfob-
servation

DENOEL, JEAN (1904- ), great friend of such writers as Jacob,
Cocteau, Mauriac, Mantam, lived for some time m Casablanca
and was associated with Max-Pol Fouehet m editing Fontaine

DEROULEDE, PAUL (1846-1914), French popular poet and drama-
tist of patriotism

DETAILLE, JEAN-BAPTISTE EDOUARD (1848-1912), French
painter of military subjects.

318 Glossary of Persons

DIDEROT, DENIS (1713-84), French philosopher, critic, dramatist,
etc , who edited the great Encyclopedic , a fecund writer and one
of the great foices of the age of Enlightenment

DORCHAIN, AUGUSTE (1857-1930), French literary historian and
editor of Ronsard, Corneille, Marcelme Desbordes-V almore

DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR CONAN (1859-1930), English doctor and
novelist, creator of Sherlock Holmes

DRIEU LA ROCHELLE, PIERRE (1893-1944), French novelist,
essayist, and dramatist, whose work reflects the unrest of the
twenties and a smcere form of fascism that made him an intel-
lectual collaborationist during the German occupation

DRIOTON, ABBE ETIENNE (1889- ), French Egyptologist living
m Cairo

DROUIN, DOMINIQUE, (1898- ), son of Marcel Droum, has spent
much time in Ethiopia and has long been engaged m the film in-
dustry

DROUIN, JACQUES, son of Marcel Drouin and nephew of Andr<§
Gide

DROUIN, JEANNE (1868- ), n4e Rondeaux, sister of Mme Andr£
Gide and wife of Marcel Droum

DROUIN, MARCEL (1870-1946), French professor of philosophy m
Alengon, Bordeaux, and Pans and, under pseudonym of Michel
Amauld, essayist and critic As a classmate of Andr6 Gide and
Pierre Louys, he founded with them Potache-Revue and La
Conque (1891), m 1909, after a brilliant record at the ficole Nor-
male Supeneure and sojourns m Germany, was instrumental in
foundmg the Nouvelle Revue Frangaise with his brother-in-law,
Andre Gide

DU BOS, CHARLES (1882-1939), French literary critic of great taste
and penetration, who devoted much of his mterest to foreign lit-
erature (notably English), he wrote a book on Andr4 Gide at
about the same time that he was being reconverted to Catholicism

DU HAMEL, GEORGES (1884— ), French novelist (incidentally
poet, essayist, dramatist), who won fame for his depiction of suf-
fering humanity as seen by a military surgeon and proceeded to
paint a picture of modem society ( Pasquier Chronicles) After
being a most effective editor of the Mercure de France , he was
named perpetual secretary of the French Academy
DUVERNOIS, HENRI (1875-1937), French novelist and dramatist of
psychological finesse

ECKERMANN, JOHANN PETER (1792-1854), German amanuensis
of Goethe and author of the famous Conversations of Goethe with
Eckermann

Glossary of Persons 319

EHKENBURG, ILYA (1891- ), Russian journalist, poet, and novel-

ist, ever a popular reporter for, and spokesman of, the USSR
EICHENDORFF, JOSEPH VON (1788—1857), German romantic
poet

EM , see Gide, Mme Andr4

FARGUE, LEON-PAUL (1878-1947), French poet m verse and prose
of the delicate world of imagination and hallucination
FARRERE, CLAUDE (1876- ), French popular novelist, and mem-
ber of the Academy

FAUCONNIER, HENRI, French novelist, whose Malarne won the
Goncourt Prize in 1930, left Tunisia in 1939 after staying several
years Gerard Boutelleau planned to take over his beautiful old
house and lodge Andre Gide, but the plan was never realized
FAUS, KEELER (1910- ), American foreign-service official who met
Andre Gide in 1941 while serving in the U S Embassy in Vichy,
m 1945, as Secretary of Embassy in Paris, he had further contacts
with Gide

FENELON, FRANCOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE (1651-
1715), French bishop, royal tutor, and exponent of quietism, for
which he was condemned by Rome at the instigation of Bossuet,
his most famous work is the Aventures de Telemaque
FERNANDEZ, RAMON (1894-1944), French literary critic and nov-
elist

FLEURET, FERNAND (1884-1945), French poet, novelist, and lit-
erary historian, who parodied writers of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, his mannerism and taste for the erotic won him
the designation of the ‘last satiric poet ”

FLORY, MARCEL, professor at the Lycee of Tunis, who became
Secretary of the French Embassy m Washington and later occu-
pied the same position in Cano

FONTAINAS, ANDRE (1865-1948), Belgian-born symbolist poet
and disciple of Mallarme, interpreter of English-language poets
such as Shelley and Poe, and sensitive art critic
FORD, JOHN (fl 1639), English dramatist of ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore,
etc

FORSTER, EDWARD MORGAN (1879- ), English novelist of A
Passage to India (1924), A Room with a View (1908), etc

GABORIAU, EMILE (1835-73), French writer of detective stones,
creator of M Lecoq and Pere Tabaret
GALLIMARD, GASTON (1881- ), French publisher, who became
administrator of the Nouvelle Revue Frangaise when founded in
1908-9 and later of the publishing house of Gallimard — NRF, also

520

Glossary of Persons

acted as business manager of Copeaus Theatre du Vieux-Colom-
bier

GAUTIER, EMILE FELIX (1864-1940), French professor at the
University of Algiers, great authority on North Africa and its
civilization

GAUTIER, THEOPHILE (1811-72), French poet and novelist, who,
he adin g the school of art for art’s sake, acts as a pivot between
romanticism and naturalism

GEORGE, STEFAN (1868-1933), German poet strongly influenced
by French symbolism, who renewed German poetic style, besides
Shakespeare and Dante, he translated Baudelaire and several
more recent French poets

GERALD Y, PAUL (pseud of Paul Le F evre, 1885- ), French poet

and light dramatist of love, best known for Tot et mot ( 1913)
GIDE, CATHERINE (1923- ), daughter of Andr4 Gide, now Mme
Jean Lambert

GIDE, MME ANDRE (1867-1938), n£e Madeleine Rondeaux
GILBERT, G M (1911- ), American psychologist, who was prison
psychologist at the Nuremberg trial of the Nazi war criminals
GILLOUIN, RENE (1881- ), Swiss literary critic and journalist
GIRAUDOUX, JEAN (1882-1944), French poetic novelist and drama-
tist of fantasy and preciosity

GIRODET-TRIOSON (pseud of Anne Louis Girodet de Roussy,
1767-1824), French painter, pupil of David, best known for his
Entombment of Atala

GOBILLARD, PAULE ( P-1946), French painter who studied with
her aunt, Berthe Morisot, and with Renoir, elder sister of Mme
Paul Valery and close fnend of Mall arm e, Redon, Degas, etc
GOBINEAU, JOSEPH-ARTHUR DE (1812-82), French diplomat
and writer responsible for certain modem race theories
GOGOL, NICOLAI VASILIEVICH (1809-52), Russian novelist of
satirical works, such as Dead Souls

GOURMONT, REMY DE (1858-1915), fecund French literary critic
and novelist, one of the founders of the Mercure de France
(1890), for which he wrote assiduously for the next twenty-five
years, apologist and spokesman for the symbolist movement
GRANADOS, ENRIQUE (1867-1916), Spanish composer of piano
pieces and of the opera Goyescas, made from some of them
GRASSET, BERNARD (1881- ), French publisher and journalist,
who founded a successful publishing house under his own name
GREEN, JULIEN (1900- ), French novelist of American parentage
and French education ( The Closed Garden, Avarice House, etc )
GRIMM, MELCHIOR (1723-1807), German chronicler of Parisian

Glossary or Persons 321

intellectual life, whose correspondence recoids the achievements
of the philosophes

GRIMMELSHAUSEN, HANS JACOB CHRISTOFFEL VON (1625-
76), Geiman novelist and satirist appreciated for his Simphcissi-
mus, a picaresque novel of the Thirty Years’ War

GROETHUYSEN, BERNARD (1880-1946), German-bom and natu-
ralized French philosopher, critic, and historian of ideas Of
Dutch and Russian parentage, he had the European spirit A
close associate of many French writers and artists, he was an
ardent Communist

GROS, ANTOINE-JEAN, BARON (1771-1835), French pamter of his-
torical scenes,^ pupil of David

GUENON, RENE, French Yogi philosopher and authority on Hin-
duism

GUERIN, PIERRE-NARCISSE, BARON (1774-1833), French
pamter of classical subjects and teacher of many of the romantic
painters

GUILLAIN, ALIX, French translator of Georg Simmel and other
German writers

GUILLAUMET, HENRI (1902-40), French commercial aviator

GUIZOT, FRANCOIS (1787-1874), French historian and statesman,
liberal Protestant, and champion of the middle class

GUTTIEREZ, dentist in Turns

HADDOU, SI, Frenchman named Guy Delon converted to Islam un-
der influence of Rene Guenon, head of the American fonduk at
Fez, an animal hospital He lodged Andre Gide in the house of a
Swiss named Brown whom the war had prevented from returning
to Fez

HAMMETT, DASHIELL (1894- ), American writer of thrilling de-
tective novels, such as Red Harvest, The Maltese Falcon, The
Glass Key

HEBBEL, FRIEDRICH (1813-63), German poet and dramatist

HELL, HENRI (pseud of Jose Lasry), Venezuelan naturalized col-
laborator of Max-Pol Fouchet on the review Fontaine, active m
UNESCO, where he is concerned with poetry and music

HENRIOT, EMILE (1889- ), French poet, novelist, and journalist,
member of the French Academy

HERBART, ELISABETH, Mme Pierre Herbart, n6e Van Ryssel-
berghe

HERBART, PIERRE (1903- ), French novelist and journalist, au-
thor of Le Rodeur, Contre-Ordre, Alcyon, who accompanied Andre
Gide on his trip to Russia m 1936

322 Giossam of Persons

HEREDIA, JOSE-MARIA DE (1842-1905), French poet of the Par-
nassian movement, whose single volume of sonnets, Les Trophies
(1893), won him election to the Fiench Academy
HEURGON, JACQUES, French professor of Latin, formerly at the
University of Algiers, now at the University of Lille, married
Anne Desjardins, the daughter of Paul Desjardins
HOGG, JAMES (1770-1835), Scottish poet known as the “Ettrick
Shepherd” and author of the prose Confessions of a Justified
Sinner (1824)

HOLBACH, BARON D’ (1723-89), German-bom philosopher and
friend of the Encyclopedists, who appreciated him for his Systime
de la nature

HOLDERLIN, JOHANN CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH (1770-1848),
German lyric poet and novelist

HUEFFER, FORD MADOX (1873-1939), English novelist and critic,
also known as Ford Madox Ford, who collaborated with Conrad
on The Inheritors (1901) and Romance (1903)

HUGO, FRANCOIS- VICTOR (1828-73), son of Victor Hugo, and
French translator of Shakespeare
HUGUES, notary at Vence

HUME, DAVID (1711-76), Scottish historian and philosopher
HYTIER, JEAN (1899- ), French professor of French literature at
Columbia University, penetrating critic of contemporary litera-
ture, widely known for his studies of aesthetics and for his Andre
Gide (1938)

INGRES, JEAN-AUGUSTE DOMINIQUE (1780-1867), French
painter famous for the perfection of his draftsmanship
INONU, GENERAL ISMET (1884- ), President of the Republic of
Turkey since 1938

ISTRATI, PANAIT (1884-1935), French novelist of Rumanian birth,
appreciated for the exoticism of his foreign settings

JACQUES, LUCIEN, French painter and writer whose recollections
of the war of 1914, Carnets de Moleskme (1939), were prefaced
by Jean Giono m a violently antimilitaristic spirit
JAMMES, FRANCIS (1868-1938), French mtimist poet, who sang of
his native Pyrenees with a childlike sensuality and an increasingly
orthodox Catholic faith

JELLICOE, JOHN RUSHWORTH JELLICOE, 1st VISCOUNT
(1859-1935), English admiral of the fleet that routed the German
navy at Jutland in 1916

JOUBIN, LOUIS (1861-1935), French marine biologist and editor of
the Annales de Tlnstitut OcSanographique

Glossary of Persons 323

JUNGER, ERNST (1895- ), German novelist best known for two
novels based on his experiences as an officer on the western front
m 1914-18

KAFKA, FRANZ (1883-1924), Czech novelist and essayist, in Ger-
man, of man’s estrangement and sense of guilt in an incompre-
hensible universe The Trial, The Castle, etc

KAVAFIS, CONSTANTIN P , Greek poet bom in Constantinople and
living in Alexandria

KELLER, GOTTFRIED (1819-90), Swiss novelist of realistic fiction
m German

KLEIST, BERND HEINRICH WILHELM VON (1777-1811), Ger-
man poet, dramatist, and novelist of the romantic movement

KOESTLER, ARTHUR (1905- ), Hungarian-born journalist, essay-
ist, and novelist, now writing in English

LA BOETIE, ETIENNE DE (1530-63), French member of the Bor-
deaux Parliament, author of a treatise against tyranny, and great
friend of Montaigne

LAMARTINE, ALPHONSE DE (1790-1869), French romantic poet
and political figure

LAMBERT, JEAN (1920- ), French literary critic and translator

from the German of Hermann Hesse and others, son-in-law of
Andr6 Gide

LAMENNAIS, FELICITE ROBERT DE (1782-1854), French Cath-
olic apologist and political liberal who fought Galhcamsm

LA METTRIE, JULIEN DE (1709-51), French doctor and material-
istic philosopher

LANDOWSKA, WANDA (1877- ), Polish pianist and harpsichord-
ist, who by her teaching, playing, and inspiration of composers
revived the harpsichord

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, FRANCOIS, DUC DE (1613-80), French
writer of the most famous collection of Maxims

LAST, JEF (1898 11 - ), Dutch poet and novelist, who has traveled in
Spam and Morocco, and accompanied An dr 6 Gide on his trip to
Russia m 1936

LAURENS, PAUL-ALBERT (1870-?), son of Jean-Paul Laurens,
French painter and professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, inti-
mate friend of Andrd Gide, whom he accompanied on his first
tnp to Africa (1893) His portrait of Gide is in the Luxembourg
Museum, Paris

LAURENS, PIERRE, son of Jean-Paul Laurens, and a painter him-
self, professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, great friend of Charles
P4guy, whose portrait he painted

3H Glossary of Persons

LEAUTAUD, PAUL ( 1872- ), French self-taught novelist and critic,
long associated with the Mercure de France and appreciated for
his outspoken drama criticism and caustic wit
LECLERC, JEAN (pseud of Philippe de Hautecloque, 1902-47),
French general who led a division of Fighting French forces
across the Sahara from the Chad, entered Paris in command of
the 2nd armored division, and later took Strasbourg
LECOMTE DU NOUY, PIERRE (1883-1947), French medical biol-
ogist who long held an important position at the Pasteur Institute
m Pans, author of L’Homme decant la science ( Human Destiny )
LECONTE DE LISLE, CHARLES (1818-94), French poet of the
Parnassian school, whose work is steeped in classical culture
LEFEVRE, RENE, French film actor who played the tide role in
Jean de la lime, author of a film on the Salvation Army ( Musiciens
du ciel) and of a book of memoirs {Le Film de ma me)
LEMAITRE, JULES (1853-1914), French literary critic and exponent
of the impressionist method in criticism
LESAGE, ALAIN-RENE (1668-1747 ), French realistic novelist of Gil
Bias and Le Diable boiteux

LESCHI, LOUIS, professor at the University of Algiers, archaeologist
LEVESQUE, ROBERT, French professor m Rome and Athens, who
frequendy accompanied An dr 6 Gide on trips m Italy, Greece, and
Egypt, author of studies and translations of contemporary Greek
literature

LINNAEUS (Carl von Linnd, 1707-78), Swedish naturalist, and
founder of modern botany

LITTRE, EMILE (1808-81), French positivist philosopher, whose
dictionary of the French language is still a standard work
LOTI, PIERRE (pseud of Juhen Viaud, 1850-1923), French novelist
of the sea and of far places, admired for PScheur d’Islande and
Aziyade

LOUYS, PIERRE (1870-1925), French poet and novelist of Chansons
de Bihtis (1894), Aphrodite (1896), and Les Aventures du roi
Pausole (1900)

LUNACHARSKY, ANATOLY VASILIEVICH (1873- ), Russian
politician, dramatist, and essayist, who played an important role
among the Bolsheviks

LYAUTEY, LOUIS HUBERT (1854-1934), French marshal and col-
onizer, who organized the French protectorate in Morocco Mem-
ber of the Academy, 1912

MAINTENON, MME DE (1635-1719), nde Frangoise d’Aubigne,
French mistress and secret wife of Louis XIV, over whom she ex-
erted a powerful influence.

Glossary of Persons 325

MAISTRE, JOSEPH DE (1754-1821), French philosopher and essay-
ist, who, as Ambassador of the King of Sardinia to the Russian
court, wrote his Considerations on France and St Petersburg
Evenings to contradict the philosophy of Voltaire, Montesquieu,
and Rousseau in favor of absolute monarchy and papal infalli-
bility

MALAQUAIS, JEAN (pseud of Jan Malacki, 1908- ), Polish-bom
French novelist, who in 1939 won the Renaudot Prize for his first
work, bes Javanais ( Men from Nowhere)

MALEBRANCHE, NICOLAS (1638-1715), French Cartesian philos-
opher, author of The Search for Truth , who stressed the dualism
of mmd and matter

MALHERBE, FRANCOIS DE (1555-1628), French poet, more im-
portant for his influence as codifier and purifier of language at
the beginning of the classical period than for his poems
MALLARME, STEPHANE (1842-98), French poet, whose intellec-
tual purity and hermetic style influenced a whole generation of
writers despite the limitation of his first Complete Poems to forty
copies His weekly receptions in his Pans apartment (1886-98)
gathered the artistic 41ite of the Contment in fascmatmg conver-
sation

MALRAUX, ANDRE ( 1901- ), French novelist of Mans Fate, Mans
Hope , etc , and organizer of a bombing squadron for the Spanish
Republican army m 1936, adviser to General de Gaulle
MARIVAUX, PIERRE CARLET DE CHAMBLAIN DE (1688-1763),
French dramatist and novelist of great sensibility and psychologi-
cal penetration, whose name ( marwaudage ) stands for witty
banter about love His journals were inspired by Addison, and his
novels m turn influenced Richardson
MARMONTEL, JEAN-FRANQOIS (1723-99), French editor, critic,
and author of philosophic novels
MARTIN DU GARD, HELENE, Mme Roger Martin du Gard
MARTIN DU GARD, MAURICE (1896- ), French journalist, critic,
and long chief editor of the Nouvelles httiraires
MARTIN DU GARD, ROGER (1881- ), French novelist and drama-
tist, who won the Nobel Prize m 1937, chiefly for the vivid realistic
novel m many volumes, The World of the Thibaults
MASSIS, HENRI (1886- ), French literary critic and essayist, de-
fender of the Latin inheritance in his Defense of the West, who
severely criticized Renan, Gide, Duhamel, France, and Benda m
the nationalist Revue umverselle

MAUCLAIR, CAMILLE (pseud of Camille Faust, 1872-1945),
French poet, novelist, and critic, who revealed and defended
much of the best in modem French art and literature

326 Glossary of Persons

MAULNIER, THIERRY (pseud of Jacques Talagrand, 1905- ),

French political writer and literary critic

MAURIAC, CLAUDE, French critic of literature and the films, and
son of Francois Maunac

MAURIAC, FRANCOIS (1885- ), French novelist, dramatist, and

essayist, appreciated in English for TMrese, Vipers’ Tangle, etc
A Catholic writer of great vigor, he was elected to the French
Academy in 1939

MAUROIS, ANDRE (pseud of Emile Herzog, 1885- ), French novel-
ist, biographer, and essayist, whose facile clarity made his lives
of Shelley, Disraeli, and Byron world-famous and opened the
French Academy to him m 1938

MAUROIS, GERALD, elder son of Andre Maurois, during part of the
war he worked m a perfume factory in Grasse

MAURRAS, CHARLES (1868- ), French poet, essayist, pamphlet-

eer, and political leader of the Action Frangaise movement, ex-
ponent of decentralization and a return to monarchy, who was
tried m 1945 as the ideologist of the Vichy government and sen-
tenced to life imprisonment

MAYRISCH DE SAINT-HUBERT, MME EMILE (P-1947), wife of
the director of the great Luxembourg metallurgical syndicate
named Arbet A woman of great culture m French, English, and
German, she received poets, philosophers, pamters, and sculptors
in her chateau of Colpach in Luxembourg, which became a
meeting-place of French and German cultures She traveled m
the Orient with the late director of the Musee Guimet and in the
Near East with Andre Gide

MECKERT, JEAN, French novelist, who reflects the point of view of
the masses

MEREZHKOVSK3, DMITRI (1865-1941), Russian novelist, poet, and
essayist, leader of the symbolist movement in Russia and propo-
nent of a neo-Christianity

MICHAUX, HENRI (1899- ), Belgian-born French poet and
painter, appreciated for his strong personal fantasy and the ex-
oticism resulting from his extensive travels, real and imaginary

MONDZAIN, painter from central Europe who lives m Algiers, his
wife. Dr Mondzain-Lemaire, treated Andr£ Gide
MONTESQUIEU, CHARLES LOUIS DE SECONDAT DE (1689-
1755), French political philosopher, best known for his Lettres
persanes and his analysis of political constitutions, De Vesprit des

lois

MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE (1896- ), French novelist, essayist,
and dramatist, who first epitomized the restless and cynical youth

Glossary of Persons

327

of the twenties and then produced a series of cruel novels of great
power and technical skill

MOPPES, DENISE VAN, French translator from German and English

MORIZE, PHILIPPE, self-styled hero of the French bombing forces
attached to the RAF, who under the name of Philippe La Ches-
naie wrote his supposed experiences m a volume entitled Daphne
17, which was dedicated to Andre Gide, his pretense was later
considered to have been exposed

MORTIMER, RAYMOND (1895- ), Enghsh writer and literary ed-
itor of the New Statesman and Nation

MOUNIER, EMMANUEL (1905-50), French Catholic writer and
founder and editor of the monthly Esprit, leader of the personahst
group

MUHLFELD, LUCIEN (1870-1902), French novelist and literary
critic

MUSSET, ALFRED DE (1810-57), French romantic poet and drama-
tist of lyric quality, grace, and exquisite humor

NAVILLE, ARNOLD (1879- ), Swiss financier, early mterested in

the work of Andre Gide, on which he published bibliographical
notes m 1930 and again in 1950, long a close friend of Gide’s

NERVAL, GERARD DE (1808-55), French romantic poet m verse
and m prose, appreciated especially for his beautiful short novels
Aurelia and Les Filles du feu

NEUVILLE, ALPHONSE MARIE ADOLPHE DE (1836-85), French
painter of military subjects

NOAILLES, ANNA, COMTESSE DE (1876-1933), French poet and
novelist of dehcate talent and vibrant sensitivity

OHANA, MAURICE, young French composer

OLIVIER, SIR LAURENCE (1907- ), English actor, known for his
interpretations of Shakespeare and his mspired direction of the
Old Vic Theatre Company

PAGANINI, NICOLd (1784r-1840), Italian violinist

PASCOLI, GIOVANNI (1855-1912), Italian poet of the simple, rustic
life

PASSEUR, STfiVE (1899- ), French dramatist of psychological
melodramas, such as Les Tncheurs (1932) and LAcheteuse
(1930)

PATRI, AIME, French professor of philosophy in the lycSe of Tunis
who is at present editor-in-chief of the literary monthly Pam

PAULHAN, GERMAINE, Mme Jean Paulhan.

328 Glossary of Persons

PAULHAN, JEAN (1884- ), French assthetician, essayist, and m-
spirer of modem literature, from 1925 until 1940 he was chief
editor of the Nouvelle Revue Frangaise

PEGUY, CHARLES (1873-1914), French poet and essayist, who ex-
erted a very great influence through such works as his Jeanne
d’Arc, Notre Paine, L’ Argent, as well as through the review he
founded and edited, Les Cahiers de la Qumzame (1902—14)

PEREZ, CHARLES, student at the Tunis lycde, who served as Andre
Gide’s secretary, later he joined the Free French forces and was
seriously wounded in Germany

PIRENNE, HENRI (1862-1935), Belgian historian of Europe and
rector of the University of Ghent

PISTOR, FERNAND ( ? -1944), former professor at the lycee of Al-
giers, who left teaching to become war correspondent for the
French radio and was killed in the fighting at Marseille in Au-
gust 1944, met Andr6 Gide at Sidi-bou-Said

POURTALES, GUY DE (1881- ), Swiss biographer and music critic

of French Protestant origin, known for his Life of Liszt, Richard
Wagner, etc

PROUST, MARCEL (1871-1922), French novelist, whose one great
work m sixteen volumes is a masterpiece of psychological penetra-
tion and of poetic re-creation of the past through the involuntary
memory

PUGET, PIERRE (1622-94), French sculptor, pamter, and architect,
appreciated especially for his statues of classical subjects m the
Louvre

RAGU, DR , director of the Centre Antoine Cassar hospital m Tunis
and well-known dermatologist

RANCE, ABBE ARMAND DE (1626-1700), French refoimer of the
Trappist Order

RAUSCHNING, HERMANN (1887- ), author of German birth,
known for The Revolution of Nihilism (1939) and The Voice of
Destruction (1940) President of the Danzig Senate in 1932, he
left die Nazi Party in 1935 to become a Liberal Conservative, in
1948 he became a U S citizen

RAVEL, MAURICE (1875-1937), French composer of ballets, or-
chestral compositions, piano pieces, and songs

RAYNAUD, PIERRE, Air-France pilot who earned Andr6 Gide as a
passenger on several occasions, self-made man, remarkable for
Ins sleight-of-hand tricks, and fnend of Saint Exup4iy

KEBATET, LUCIEN, French journalist of the extreme right wing,
who contributed to Je sms partout

Glossary of Pehsons 329

RENAN, ERNEST (1823-92), French philologist, historian of reli-
gions, and philosopher, most famous for his unorthodox Life of

Jesus

RENAUD, MADELEINE, French actress, wife of Jean-Louis Bar-
rault and with him co-director of the repertory company that
plays at the Marigny Theater m Paris

RETZ, PAUL DE GONDI, CARDINAL DE (1613-79), French his-
torian of society, whose racy Memoirs depict the courts of Louis
XIII and Louis XIV

REYMOND, SUZY, daughter of Theo Reymond

REYMOND, THEO, French architect in Tunis He and his wife, her-
self an excellent ophthalmologist, lodged Andre Gide in Tunisia,
first in their house at Sidi-bou-Said and later m their apartment
in the avenue Roustan, Tunis, where they were obliged to leave
him when a tumor forced Mme Reymond to be operated on m
Marseille

REYNAUD, PAUL (1878- ), French statesman, many tames Min-
ister, who resigned as Premier in June 1940 rather than accept
capitulation to Germany

RILKE, RAINER MARIA (1875-1926), German poet, bom in Prague,
who lived long m Paris m close association with the sculptoi
Rodm His elegies and other poems are thoughtful works of great
artistry

RIMBAUD, ARTHUR (1854-91), French poet of great originality,
whose two works revolutionized modem poetry Abandoning lit-
erature entirely at the age of nmeteen, he ended his life as an ad-
venturer and business representative m Abyssinia

RIVARQL, ANTOINE (1753-1801), French essayist and pamphlet-
eer, best known for his Discourse on the Universality of the
French Language

RIVIERE, JACQUES (1886-1925), French critic, and editor of the
Nouvelle Revue Frangaise from 1919 to 1925 after having been
identified with the review from 1909 His vivid correspondence
with Alain-Fourmer and with Claudel is greatly admired

RODENBACH, GEORGES (1855-98), Belgian poet and novelist of
symbolism, who wrote m Pans

RCEDERER, PIERRE-LOUIS (1754r-1835), French statesman and
historian

ROMILLY, SIR SAMUEL (1757-1818), English legal reformer
of Huguenot ancestry, beloved Whig Member of Parliament,
and author of lively Memoirs

ROSENBERG, FEDOR, Russian from Livonia, whom Andr4 Gide
met in Florence during his wedding trip (1895)

330 Glossary or Peesons

ROSTAND, JEAN (1894- ), French biologist of many, often very
popular publications

ROTHERMERE, LADY, nee Mary Lilian Share, English wife of Lord
Rothermere, proprietor of the Daily Mail and other London news-
papers, she translated Gide’s Prometheus Ill-Bound

ROUGEMONT, DENIS DE (1906- ), Swiss essayist of original and
penetrating mind, known in Enghsh for The Devil’s Share and
The Last Trump __

ROUVEYRE, ANDRE (1879- ), French caricaturist, who contrib-
uted to Le Rire, etc , and collected his drawings in several vol-
umes

ROY, JULES (1907- ), French poet and novelist, whose writing is

inspired by his experience as an aviator

RUDE, FRANCOIS (1784-1855), French sculptor, best known for
his relief of the Marseillaise on the Arc de Tnomphe

SADE, DONATIEN ALPHONSE, MARQUIS DE (1740-1814),
French novelist of erotic works, whose name has come to desig-
nate a sexual perversion

SAILLET, MAURICE (1915- ), French literary critic of subtle
mind and delicate sensitivity, who often writes under the name of
Justin Saget, associated with Adrienne Monnier m managing her
bookshop in the rue de l’Odeon

SAINTE-BEUVE, AUGUSTIN (1804-69), French critic belonging to
the romantic school, whose Monday Chats and Literary Portraits
have outlived his poems and single novel

SAINT-EVREMOND, CHARLES DE SAINT-DENYS DE (1610-
1703), French essayist, known for his volummous, witty corre-
spondence, written during his forty-year exile m England

SAINT EXUPERY, ANTOINE DE (1900-44), French novelist and
aviator, whose Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars brought a
new heroism mto French fiction

SAINT-SIMON, LOUIS DE ROUVROY, DUC DE (1675-1755),
French historian of society, whose Memoirs are the memorial of
court society m his age as well as a masterpiece of literature

SALACROU, ARMAND (1900- ), French dramatist of psychological
insight and unusual experimental techniques, best known for his
Inconnue d Arras (1935)

SAND, GEORGE (pseud of Aurore Dudevant, 1804r-76), French ro-
mantic novelist

SARDOU, VICTORIEN (1831-1908), French dramatist of manners,
much appreciated in his time for his consummate but mechanical
technique

SARTRE, JEAN-PAUL (1905- ), French philosopher, dramatist.

Glossary or Persons 331

novelist, critic, and chief exponent of French existentialism, best
known for such plays as The Fites and No Exit and for the long
novel The Roads to Freedom

SAUCIER, ROLAND (1899- ), French director of the bookshop of
the Librairie Gallimard, boulevard Raspail, since 1920
SCARLATTI, DOMENICO (1685-1757), Italian virtuoso at the harp-
sichord and composer, who revolutionized piano-playing
SCHIFFRIN, JACQUES (?-1950), Russian-born French publisher,
who created the well-known Editions de la P16iade, m which he
brought out the first complete edition of Andre Gide’s Journal ,
close friend of Gide, whom he accompanied to Russia in 1936, m
America for the last several years, he was one of the officers of
Pantheon Books

SCHLUMBERGER, JEAN (1877- ), French novelist of psycho-
logical insight and one of the founders of the N R F
SCHWOB, MARCEL (1867-1905), French prose-poet of the symbo-
list period, whose great erudition, visual imagination, and ironic,
flexible style gave him a significant place m modem letters
SHCHEDRIN, N (pseud ofM E Saltykov, 1826-89), Russian realis-
tic and satiric novelist, whose Golovlyov Family and Bygone Days
m Poshekhome expose the venality of the ruling class and empty
traditions of manorial society m czarist Russia
SILLER, FRAULEIN EMMA, for many years the tutor of the Ron-
deaux girls, of whom the eldest became Mme Andre Gide, often
visited Cuverville and helped Andre Gide in his study of German,
eventually returned to her native Regensburg (Bavaria), where
she died recently at a very advanced age
SIMENON, GEORGES (1903- ), Belgian-born novelist, best known
for his detective novels featuring the Commissaire Maigret
SOLOGUB, FYODOR (pseud of Fyodor Tetemikov, 1863-1927),
Russian poet and novelist of symbolism, as m The Little Demon
SOUPAULT, PHILIPPE (1897- ), French poet, novelist, and essay-
ist, who abandoned Dadaism and surrealism m favor of adventure
novels of a poetic nature, and political analysis
SPARROW, MME, Polish doctor in Tunis, close friend of the Gerard
Boutelleau family

SPENDER, STEPHEN (1909- ), English poet and critic, co-editor
of Horizon , 1939-41

STRGHL, JEAN (1886- ), Swiss biologist, dean of the Faculty of
Sciences, University of Zurich, and author of studies in the history
of^the natural sciences and in teratology
SHARES, ANDRE (1868-1948), French poet and essayist of flamboy-
ant nature and broad views, whose essays on Wagner, Dostoyev-
sky, and Pascal are penetrating and original

532 Glossary of Persons

SUSTERMANS, JUSTUS (1597-1681), Flemish painter, known chiefly
for his portraits of the Medici

THERIVE, ANDRE (1891- ), French novelist, literary cntic, and

grammarian

THIBAUD, JACQUES (1880- ), French violinist, who has often
played trios with Alfred Cortot and Pablo Casals
THOMAS, HENRI, French poet and novelist, translator of Goethe’s
Tasso, of Ernst Junger, and of Melville, during the war he worked
in the French section of BBC in London
TOCQUEVILLE, ALEXIS DE (1805-59), French publicist and
statesman, author of Democracy m America
TOMLINSON, HENRY MAJOR (1873- ), English journalist and
novelist

TOURNEUR, CYRIL (1575^-1626), English poet and dramatist of
The Revenger’s Tragedy and The Atheist’s Tragedy, somber plays
of revenge

TOURNIER, bookseller in Tunis and friend of Andre Gide
TOURNIER, JEAN, son of the Tunis bookseller, who now manages
his father’s shop

TRUC, GONZAGUE, French literary critic and journalistic philos-
opher and theologian

VALERY, JEANNIE, Mme Paul Valery, n6e Gobillard
VALERY, PAUL (1871-1945), French poet and essayist, who began
his career when as a law student he met Pierre Louys and Andre
Gide, then Mall arm e, whose chief disciple he became After a
brilliant start he abandoned literature for twenty years and was
persuaded to return in 1917 by Gide His mature career was
crowned by his election to the French Academy in 1925
VALLOTTON, FELIX-EDOUARD (1865-1925), Swiss painter of
portraits, flowers, and landscapes

VAN DINE, S S (pseud of Willard Huntington Wnght, 1888-1939),
American writer of mystery novels

VAN GOGH, VINCENT (1853-90), Dutch painter of great impor-
tance in the French post-impressionist group, known for his crude
colors and obvious brush-strokes m portraits and landscapes
VAN RYSSELBERGHE, MME THEO (1865- ), wife of the Bel-
gian painter and, under the pseudonym of M Saint-Clair, author
of a subtle novelette and of delicate literary portraits
VERLAINE, PAUL (1844r-96), French symbolist poet, distinguished
for the musical quality of his verse and his rather disreputable
_ bfe

VIENOT, PIERRE (1897-1944), French statesman, who, after work-

Glossary of Persons 333

mg with Marshal Lyautey in Morocco, became one of the first
membeis of the Free French government m London, where he
died, son-m-law of Mme Maynsch

VIGNY, ALFRED DE (1797-1863), French romantic poet of philo-
sophic turn, who, like Hugo, also wrote fiction and drama

VILDRAC, CHARLES (1882- ), French poet and dramatist, best
known for his play The Steamer Tenacity

VIOLLET-LE-DUC, EUGENE EMMANUEL (1814-79), French ar-
chitect and writer, m great part responsible for the Gothic revival
through his books and restorations of Carcassonne, Pierrefonds,
Notre-Dame Cathedral, etc

VISAN, TANCREDE DE (1878- ), French literary critic, who con-
tributed regularly to the Mercure de France, etc

VOILIER, MME, Parisian proprietor of the Editions Domat-Mont-
chrestien, which publishes the series entitled “Au Voilier ' Great
friend of Paul Valery, she has written under the pseudonym of
Jean Voilier

WATTEAU, ANTOINE (1684-1721), French painter and engraver

WEBSTER, JOHN (1580^-1625?), English dramatist of The White
Devil, The Duchess of Malfi, etc

WILSON, JOHN DOVER (1881- ), English scholar m Shakespear-

ean studies, professor at Edinburgh, 1936-45

WITT-GUIZOT, FRANCOIS DE (1870- ), French officer of Foch’s

staff, banker, and social benefactor, author of articles m Revue des
deux mondes

WOLF, THEODOR, German editor of an important Berlm newspaper,
who, having taken refuge m Nice, was pursued by the Nazis

ZABOROWSKI-MOINDRON, SIGISMOND (1851-1928), Polish-
French professor of ethnography at the ficole d’Anthropologie m
Paris

ZOLA, EMILE (1840-1902), French novelist of the naturalist school,
best known for his vast series of novels Les Rougon-Macquart

ZWEIG, STEFAN (1881-1942), Austrian biographer, novelist, drama-
tist, and poet of ardent mternational sympathies

THE WORKS OF ANDRIS GIDE

POETRY IN VERSE AND IN PROSE

Les Cahiers d Andre Walter
(Librairie de l’Art Independant,

Les Poesies d Andre Walter
(ibid, 1892)

Le Traite du Narcisse
(ibid, 1891)

La Tentative amoureuse
(ibid, 1893)

Le Voyage dUnen
(ibid, 1893)

*Les Nourntures terrestres
(Mercure de France, 1897)

ElHadj
(ibid, 1899)

Amyntas
(ibid, 1906)

Le Retour de V enfant prodigue
(Vers et Prose, 1907)

*Les Nouvelles Nourntures
(Gallimard, 1935)

The Notebooks o£ Andre Walter
1891)

The Poems of Andre Walter
The Treatise of the Narcissus
The Attempt at Love
Unen s Travels

* Fruits of the Earth

(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1949, London Martin Seek-
er & Warburg, 1949)

El Had]

Amyntas

The Prodigal’s Return

*New Fruits of the Earth

(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1949, London Martin Seek-
er & Warburg, 1949)

TALES

*LTmmorahste *The Immorahst

(Mercure de France, 1902 ) (New York Alfred A Knopf,

1930, London Cassell & Co )

N B Since 1935 the author and hzs French publisher have ceased classi-
fying Gides works m categories The translator therefore assumes full re-
sponsibility for this pigeonholing

* The titles preceded by an asterisk have been published m English
translation Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are by Dorothy Bussy

336 The Works 0

f Andre Gide

a La Porte etroite

*Strait Is the Gate

(ibid, 1909)

(New York ibid, 1924, Lon-
don Martin Seeker & War-
burg)

^Isabelle

^Isabelle

(Gallimard, 1911)

(New York ibid, 1931, Lon-
don Cassell & Co , m Two
Symphonies)

*La Symphome pastorale

*The Pastoral Symphony

(ibid, 1919)

(ibid )

* UP. cole des femmes

*The School for Wives

(ibid, 1929)

(New York ibid, 1929, 1950,
London Cassell & Co )

^Robert

(ibid, 1929)

* Robert in The School for Wives

* Genev ieve

*Genevidve m The School for

(ibid, 1939)

Wives

*Ttesee

* Theseus m Two Legends The-

(ibid, 1946, New York Pan-

seus and CEdipus

theon Books, 1946)

(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1950, London Martin Seek-
er & Warburg, trans by
John Russell)

SATIRICAL FARCES

Paludes

Morasses

(Librairie de l’Art Independant, 1895)

*Le Promethee mal enchain 6

* Prometheus Ill-Bound

(Mercure de France, 1899)

(London Chatto & Wmdus,

1919, trans by Lilian Roth-
ermere)

*Les Caves du Vatican

*The Vatican Swindle

(Gallimard, 1914)

(New York Alfred A Knopf,

1925) or Lafcadio’s Adven-
tures (ibid, 1927, London
Cassell & Co )

The Works of Andre Gide

337

NOVEL

*Les Faux-Monnayeurs *The Counterfeiters

(Gallimard, 1926) (New York Alfred A Knopf,

1927) or The Coiners (Lon-
don Cassell & Co )

CRITICISM

PrStextes Pretexts

(Mercure de France, 1903)

Nouveaux Pretextes Furthei Pretexts

(ibid, 1911)

* Dostoievsky

(Plon-Nournt, 1923)

Incidences

(Gallimard, 1924)

* Journal des Faux-Monnayeurs
(ibid, 1926)

*Essai sur Montaigne

(Editions de la Pleiade, 1929)

Divers

(Gallimard, 1931)

* Interviews imaginaires

(New York Pantheon Books,
1943)

* Dostoevsky

(London J M Dent, 1925,
Martin Seeker & Warburg,
1949, New York Alfred A
Knopf, 1926, New Direc-
tions, 1949, trans anon )
Angles of Incidence

* Journal of “The Counterfeiters’ ’
(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1951, trans by Justin
O'Brien, in The Counter-
feiters)

*Montaigne

(New York Horace Livenght,
1929, London Blackmore
Press, trans by S H Guest
and T E Blewitt)

**The Living Thoughts of Mon-
taigne

(New York Longmans, Green
& Co, 1939, London Cas-
sell & Co )

Miscellany

* Imaginary Interviews

(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1944, trans by Malcolm
Cowley)

338 The Works o

Attendu que

(Alger Chariot, 1943)

*L’Enseignement de Poussin
(Le Divan, 1945)

Poetique

(NeucMtel Ides et Calendes,
1947)

Prefaces

(ibid , 1948)

Rencontres
(ibid, 1948)

Plages

(ibid , 1948)

f Andre Gide
Considering That . ,

*Pousstn

(London The Arts, No 2,
1947)

A Definition of Poetry

Prefaces

Encounters

Praises

DRAMA

PhiloctMe

(Mercure de France, 1899)

Le Roi Candaule
(La Revue Blanche, 1901)

Saul

(Mercure de France, 1903)
Bethsabe

(Bibhotheque de l’Occident,
1912)

*CEdipe

(Gallimard, 1931)

Persephone
(ibid, 1934)

Le Treizidme Arbre
( Mesures , No 2, 1935)

Robert ou Tinterit gSniral
(Alger L’ Arche, 1944-5)

Le Retour

(NeucMtel Ides et Calendes,
1946)

Philoctetes
King Candaules
Saul

Bathsheba

*GLdipus in Two Legends
Theseus and CEdipus
(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1950, London Martin Seek-
er & Warburg, trans by
John Russell)

Persephone

The Thirteenth Tree

Robert or The Common Weal

The Return

The Works of Andre Gxde

339

MISCELLANEOUS

* Souvenirs de la Cour d Assises
(Galhmard, 1914)

Morceaux choists
(ibid, 1921)

9 Cory don

(ibid, 1924)

a Si le gram ne meurt
(ibid, 1926)

Numqmd et tu

(Editions de la Pleiade, 1926)

Un Esprit non prevenu
(Editions Kra, 1929)

L’ Affaire Redureau
(Galhmard, 1930)

La Sequestree de Poitiers
(ibid, 1930)

Jeunesse

(Neuchatel Ides et Calendes,
1945)

*FeuiUets dautomne

(Mercure de France, 1949)

Literature engagie
(Galhmard, 1950)

* Recollections of the Assize Court

(London Hutchinson & Co ,
1941, trans anon )

Selections

*Corydon

(New York Farrar Straus &
Co , 1950, trans by Hugh
Gibb)

*lf It Die

(New York Random House,
1935, London Martin Seek-
er & Warburg, 1950, edition
limited to 1,500 copies)

Numquid et tu

An Unprejudiced Mind

The Reduieau Case

The Poitiers Incarceration Case

Youth

Autumn Leaves
(New York Philosophical Li-
brary, 1950, trans by Elsie
Pell)

*' Voyage au Congo
(Galhmard, 1927)

TRAVELS

* Travels in the Congo

(New York Alfred A. Knopf,
1929, London ibid, 1930)

340

The Works of Andre Gxde

Dindiki

(Liege Editions de la Lampe

Retour du Tchad
(Gallimard, 1928)

Dmdiki

d’ Aladdin, 1927)

*in Travels m the Congo

(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1929, London ibid, 1930)

* Retour de TURSS
(ibid, 1936)

* Retouches a mon Retour de
I’URSS (ibid, 1937)

* Return from the USSR

(New York ibid, 1937, Lon-
don Martin Seeker & War-
burg, 1937)

* Afterthoughts on the USSR
(New York Dial Press, 1938,
London Martin Seeker &
Warburg, 1938)

JOURNALS

* Journal , 1889-1939
(Gallimard, 1939)

* Pages de Journal, 1939-1942
(New York Pantheon Books,
1944, Paris Gallimard, 1946)

* Journal , 1942-1949
(Gallimard, 1950)

Deux Interviews imagmaires sui-
vies de Femllets
(Chariot, 1946)

*The Journals of Andre Gide,
1889-1949

(New York Alfred A Knopf,
1947-51, London Martin
Seeker & Warburg, 1947-9,
4 vols , trans by Justin
O’Brien)

* Extracts from the Journals, 1939-
1942 (in ibid )

* Journal, 1942-1949
(in ibid )

Dialogues on God

CORRESPONDENCE

Lettres Letters

(Liege A la Lampe d’Aladdin,

1930)

Correspondence Francis Jammes
et Andrd Gide, 1893-1938
(Pans Gallimard, 1948)

34*

The Works of

Correspondance Paul Claudel et
Andre Gide, 1899-1926
(ibid, 1949)

COLLECTED

CEuvres completes
(Gallimard, 15 vols , 1932-9)

Theatre

(Gallimard, 1942)

Theatre complet
(Neuchatel Ides et Calendes,

8 vols , 1947-9)

Andre Gide

EDITIONS
Complete Works

Drama

Complete Drama

INDEX

Abdallah, Si, 226
Abu Simbel (Egypt), 261
Achard, Marcel, 40, 274
Action Frangaise , 181, 284
Actors, 268-9
^Eacus, 46
^Eschylus, 47
Afghanistan, 262
Alain, 284 n

Alaurant, Captain, 217-18
Alb^mz, Isaac, 255
Alcxbiades, 294
Alet (Aude), 27

Algiers (Algeria), 218, 235, 246, 282
Alibert, Frangois-Paul, 36-7
Allegret, Eric, 247
A116gret, Marc, 19, 40, 97, 98, 109,
295

Allegret, Nadine, 98
Allied landing m Normandy, 242
Amado, Jorge, 198
Amenopis, 205-6
America, 54

American forces, 134, 147, 148, 149-
50, 153, 154, 156, 159, 166, 169-
70, 174-5, 177, 208-9, 214, 218,
236

Amphoux, Mr, 142, 149, 150, 162,
166, 167, 176, 185, 188, 193, 197-
8, 199, 214

Amrouche, Jean, 117, 125, 127, 136,
160, 214, 217, 218, 231 n, 234,
235, 236, 240 n, 241, 252, 264-5
Amrouche, Suzanne, 214
Anacoiuthon, 187, 243
Andersen, Hans Christian, 147
Annales due Centre Universitatre
MSditerranSen, 293
Antinous, 191
Anti-Semitism, 285-6
Appuhn, Charles, 294
Arabian Nights , The , 22
Aragon, Louis, 78, 267 »

Arber, Agnes, 42 n

Arche , L\ 110 n, 224 n, 230, 236,

265, 272, 308
Aristotle, 92
Arland, Marcel, 94
Armistice, French, 23
Armm, General von, 144, 213
Arnold, F V , 190

Aron, Robert, 236
Art and ethics, 45
Art, disappearance of, 203
Astre, G-A, 111

Aswin (Egypt), 256, 257, 260, 261
Atheism, 65, 254-5, 277-8
Athens (Greece), 46
Augustine, St , 113, 118, 253
Aurel, 250

Aury, Dommique, 265-6
Austen, Jane, 12, 242
Autarchy, 245
Autumn Leaves, 275-81

R, 119

Bach, Johann Sebastian, 112-13,
143, 175, 202, 233, 255
Bachrach, Alexandre, 99
Bacon, Sir Francis, 92, 226
Bagdad (Iraq), 260
Bainville, Jacques, 198
Bakunin, 255
Ballard, Jean, 107
Ballard, Mme Jean, 108
Ballets russes, 68

Balzac, Honors de, 25, 43 n, 94, 131,
132, 133, 135, 136, 190 n, 205,

266, 305

Barkhausen, H, 76 n
Barrault, Jean-Louis, 109-10, 119,
265

Barres, Maurice, 47, 103, 116, 122,
227, 249, 259
Barye, Antoine Louis, 45
Bataille, Henry, 131
Baudelaire, Charles, 6, 12, 22, 44,
68, 87, 125, 167, 219, 253

11

Index

Bauer, Eddy, 69

Beaulieu-sur-mer ( Alpes-Mantimes ) ,
14

Beaumont, Mgr de, 102
Becker, George J , 285 n
Becque, Henry, 87 n
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 112
Belgium, 21

Bellay, Joachim du, 121 n
B6nard, Lt Jean-Pierre, 218
Benda, Julien, 12, 37, 60, 250, 252,
267, 283-4, 290
Benjamin, Rene, 142
Bennett, Arnold, 189
Beranger, Pierre Jean de, 22, 26, 43,
104

Beraud, Henri, 142, 256
Bergson, Henri, 127, 236
Berlin (Germany), 24
Berlioz, Hector, 151
Bernard, Claude, 275
Bernard, Tristan, 283
Bernarckn de St -Pierre, 166
Bersaucourt, Albert de, 250
Berthollet, Claude-Louis, 92
Bible, 84-5, 252, 303
Bichat, 92
Bidou, Henry, 14
Biskra (Algeria), 255
Blake, William, 44 n, 60 n
Blanc, Maurice, 165
Blanchot, Maurice, 231 n
Bloy, L6on, 115, 204
Blucher, General von, 75
Blum, L6on, 102 n, 285-6
Body and soul, 299-302
Boileau, Nicolas, 86, 100, 259
Boleslavski, Richard, 117
Bombing s, 139, 140, 144, 146, 147-
8, 150-1, 154, 161, 181-2, 184^-5,
188, 202, 209
B6ne (Algeria), 110
Bonnard, Abel, 92-3
Borrner, Henri de, 22
Bossuet, Jacques B6mgne, 94, 144,
252, 273, 281

Boswell, James, 142-3, 157, 167-8,
170, 175-6

Botany, 18-19, 27, 137-8, 193, 232
Bourdet, Mme Edouard, 20
Bourdil, Andre, 217
Bourget, Paul, 138
Bousquet, Jo6, 36

Boutelleau, G6rard, 133, 145, 146,
160, 183

Boutelleau, Hope, 146, 183, 184,
185, 212, 214
Brahms, Johannes, 296
Brehm, Alfred-Edmund, 65 n, 215 n
Bremond, Abbe Henri, 226 n
Breton, Andre, 245
Breughel, Peter, 216
Bnand, Aristide, 102 n
Bnsson, Pierre, 112
Brodribb, William Jackson, 100 n
Bromfield, Louis, 18
Bronte, Emily, 257
Brown, 228, 230, 232
Bruneti&re, Ferdinand, 135
Buchet, Edmond, 274
Buck, Pearl, 89-90
Buckle, Henry Thomas, 65, 82, 91-5,
198

Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc,
Comte de, 41, 243
Buisson, du, 106
Bunin, Ivan, 83, 84, 99
Burnham, James, 285
Bussy, Dorothy, 19, 20, 34, 37, 100,
148, 152, 197, 208
Bussy, Jame, 17, 20
Bussy, Simon, 14, 19, 20, 37, 98, 148
Butler, Samuel, 27, 296

Cabns (Alpes-Mantimes) , 14, 19,
26, 36, 37, 40-1, 79, 82, 86, 296
Cacciopoh, Professor, 255
Caesar, Julius, 247, 248
Cahiers de la Qumzame , Les, 260
Cailleux, Dr Roland, 21, 34, 38, 297
Cairo (Egypt), 255, 263
Calestnus Tiro, 118
Calvin, Jean, 113, 284
Calvisius, 118 n
Camoens, 94

Camus, Albert, 231 n, 252, 262, 265

Index

m

Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), 37, 283
Cap d’Ail (Alpes-Maritimes), 82
Cap cT Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes) ,
40

Cap Martin (Alpes-Maritimes), 242
Carbom, 270

Carcassonne (Aude), 36-7, 284
Carco, Francis, 47
Carcopmo, Claude, 222 n
Cardan, Girolamo, 230
Carducci, Giosu&, 275
Carelessness, 259
Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste, 45
Carteron, 161
Castellio, 284

Catholicism, 172, 263, 278, 280-1
Cattan, Guy, 217
Cattan, Maitre, 153-4, 161, 214
Celeste, R , 76 n
Censorship, 69, 248
Cervantes, 94

Chacha, 129-30, 140, 147, 150, 152,
154, 155, 159, 160, 169, 174, 176,
183, 196, 214
Chadburne, Captain, 212
Chamfort, 207

Champaigne, Philippe de, 300
Chardonne, Jacques, 62-4, 221-2,
307

Chariot, Jean, 221, 230
Charras, Mile, 21, 197
Chassenau, Theodore, 242
Chateaubriand, Frangois-Ren4 de,
50, 77, 103, 104
Chateaubnant, Alphonse de, 63
Chekhov, Anton, 62, 79
Cheng-hua, Sheng, 225-6
Chesterton, G K> 281
Chevalier, Auguste, 265
Children's sayings, 204-5
Chitr6 (Ni&vre), 300
Chopin, Fr6d6ric, 85, 97, 143, 175,
255, 283-4
Christ, 219, 252
Christ and Christianity, 6
Christ and Communism, 11
Christianity, 19
Church, Alfred John, 100 n

Churchill, Wmston, 24, 166, 193,
231

Cicero, 253
Cmelli, 84
Cinema, see Movies
Class struggle, 113
Classicism, 60

Claudel, Paul, 49, 86 n, 94, 109, 172,
181, 184, 250, 281, 284, 287-8
Claudius, 191

Clemenceau, Georges, 308, 310
Clemeneceau, Paul, 310
Clodion, 45
Clouard, Henn, 264
Cocteau, Jean, 102 n
Colette, 59, 266

Collaboration with Germany, 66,
101, 114, 126
Combat , 252
Comedie-Frangaise, 224
Committing oneself, 279, 288
Communism, 11, 12, 48, 74, 154-5,
201-2, 251, 263
Compatissance, 305
Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur, 183, 228
Confluences , 235
Congo, the, 117, 145
Conrad, Joseph, 188-9, 193, 202
Conservatism, 29-30
Constantine (Algeria), 255
Conversion, 295, 296
Copeau, Jacques, 119, 197 n, 235-6
Corellius Rufus, 118 n
Corneille, Pierre, 61, 80-1, 148, 227,
246

Corot, Jean-Baptiste, 22
Cortot, Alfred, 112
Coste, Vnel de, 294
Couperm, Frangois, 150
Coursegoule (Alpes-Maritimes), 20
Courtelme, Georges, 39-40
Cousm, Victor, 186
CrUenon , 283
Critical sense, 33—4
Croce, Benedetto, 275
Culture, 3, 22, 43, 51, 79, 203, 207,
264

Curtius, Ernst Robert, 189

IV

Index

Curvers, Alexis, 40
Cuverville ( Seme-Infeneure ) , 20,
22, 26, 33, 35, 120, 183, 298-9
Cuvier, Georges, 92
Cyprien, Father, 74

D, 19

D' Annunzi o, Gabriele, 39 n, 27 5
Dante, 94, 127, 218, 249
Daumier, Honore, 39
Dawes, Gabriel, 272
Davet, Yvonne, 197, 264, 265-6, 274
David, Louis, 219
Death, 7-9, 295, 298
Debussy, Claude-Achille, 22, 150,
167

Decay of France, 47-8, 66, 73
Decour, Jacques, 247 n
Defeat blamed on literature, 22,
33-4

Defoe, Darnel, 59
Delacroix, Eugene, 94, 151
Delcourt, Mane, 40-1, 47
Delille, AbU, 253
Delon, Guy, 232
Demohns, Edmond, 172
Denoel, Jean, 215, 233, 234, 235
D6roulede, Paul, 22
Descartes, Ren6, 31, 68, 74, 92, 116,
226, 308

Deshouheres, Mme, 257
Detaille, Jean-Baptiste-Edouard de,
22

Devil, the, 12
Dezeimens, R , 76 n
Diana, 223

Dickens, Charles, 228
Dictatorship, 10, 31
Diction, 64, 83

Diderot, Denis, 65, 156, 194, 243
Dimaras, Constantin, 46
Discipline, 54

Documentary value of literature,
199

Documents de la qmnzaine, 247
Dorcham, Auguste, 83
Dostoyevsky, Feodor, 39, 83

Dreams, 69-70, 97-8, 121, 168,
178-9

Dneu La Rochelle, Pierre, 53 n, 62,
63, 221-2

Drioton, Abb6 Etienne, 255
Drouin, Dominique, 21
Dromn, Jeanne, 20
Drouin, Marcel, 20, 25, 152, 168,
197, 285 n
Dubois, Dr , 19
Du Bos, Charles, 235, 291-3
Duhamel, Georges, 8
Dumas, Alexandre, pete, 60
Dunkerque (Nord), 21, 120
Dupertuis, 259
Dupuy, Gaston, 101
Duty, sense of, 271
Duvernois, Henn, 80
D , Y , 274

£ changes , 110 n

Eckermann, Johann Peter, 17, 24,
26, 28, 33, 37, 157, 168
Eden, Anthony, 197, 247
Education of children, 104-5
Egypt, 102, 274
Ehrenburg, Ilya, 248, 297
Eichendorff, Joseph von, 3
El Golea, 237
Eliot, T S , 283
Elizabeth, Queen, 74
El Kantara (Algeria), 255
El Oued (Algeria), 255
Em , 22, 45, 120, 121, 154, 184, 243,
300-1

Empire, 101-2
Endymion, 223
Engmger, Bernard, 262
England, 28-9
English literature, 53
Entomolgy, 207-8
Epemon, Due d', 93
Equilibrium, 172
Esprit, 85-6
Euripides, 40-1
Euryalus, 298
Excommunication, 294

Index

v

Existentialism, 258, 267, 275
Experience and imagination, 34-5

Fargue, L4on-Paul, 287
Farr ere, Claude, 125
Fauconnier, Henri, 160
Faulkner, William, 96, 191, 212
Faus, Keeler, 106, 190
Felix, 235

Feminine reasoning, 52
Fenelon, Frangois de Salignac
de la Mothe, 177
Fernandez, Ramon, 221, 222
Fez (Morocco), 32 n, 225, 227, 229,
231

Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 226
Figaro , Le , 63, 68, 89, 90, 96, 99,
111, 119, 124, 252, 272, 307
Flaubert, Gustave, 127, 133, 266
Fleuret, Fernand, 275
Florence (Italy), 257, 275
Florence, Jean, 250
Flory, Marcel, 197, 198, 205, 214,
217

Fontainas, Andr6, 72
Fontaine , 118
Ford, John, 228
Foreign Affairs , 106
Forster, E M , 243, 259
Fort Lamy (French Equatorial Af-
rica), 238

Fourcroy, Antoine-F r angois de, 92
Foyer Franco-Beige, 292
France, 38, and Germany, 5, 17, 21,
22, 23, 25, 28, 29-30, 36, 38-9,
47, 49-50, 51, 55 n, 67, 100-1,
122, 134, 185-6
Franchise , 269
FranQOis de Sales, St , 226 n
Frascati (Italy), 236
Freedom of thought, 38, 49, 56, 68,
122, 248, 279
Free-thought, 254-5
French, the, 19
French individualism, 40
French shortcomings, 151
Freud, Sigmund, 203

Froehlich, Carl, 98 n
Fromentin, Eugene, 266
Fumet, Stanislas, 86 n
Furetiere, Antoine, 266 n

Gabonau, Emile, 183

Galileo, 116, 201

Gallimard, Gaston, 36, 165, 293

Gandhi, Mohandas, 288, 289

Gao (French Sudan), 237, 238, 260

Gaulle, Charles de, 24, 219-20, 231

Gautier, Emile, 82

Gautier, Theophile, 43 n, 87

Generation, idea of, 287-8

Gen&ve (Switzerland), 273

Gensoul, Admiral, 29 n

George, Stefan, 212

G^raldy, Paul, 21

German occupation, 23, 30, 35, 59
218

Gibbon, Edward, 157, 189, 191, 198,
201, 203, 205, 228
Gidal, Dr, 212

Gide, Andre acceptance, 16, 40, 45,
55 n, 280, agmg, 3, 18, 20, 42, 50,
61-2, 79, 96, 114, 117, 158, 191,
209, 230, 231, 246, 264, 282,
anguish, 3, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 33,
42, 67, 118, 122, aptitude for hap-
piness, 271, attacks on, 33-4,
102-3, 124, 266-7, 267-8, 274,
284, attentiveness, 164, 241, 246,
attitude of insubordination, 256,
attitude toward Academy, 256, at-
titude toward adulation, 264, atti-
tude toward death, 298-302, atti-
tude toward Egyptian art, 255, at-
titude toward fashion, 257-8, atti-
tude toward his writings, 20, at-
titude toward last words, 296, atti-
tude toward Russia, 251, attitude
toward theater, 269, attraction
toward the arduous, 252, avarice,
88, 195, belief in progress, 46,
birthday, 264-5, chess, 84, 88,
99, 115, 125, 127, 217, 241, com-
pliments received, 238, 262, con-

VI

Index

Gide, Andr6 ( continued )

versation, 20, 26, 164, conversion,
12, correspondence, 132, 282,

291, critic, 54, curiosity, 222,
death, 12, 107, 262, desire for
brevity, 258, desires, 104, dia-
logue, 109 n, 113, 115-16, 172,
187, 276, dreams, 69-70, 97-8,
121, 168, 178-9, 186, extra-kter-
ary work, 288, forerunner, 258,
habits of work, 297, health, 12-13,
15, 34, 38, 73, 88, 106-7, 118,
127, 131, 139, 153, 161, 163, 169,
172-3, 186, 191, 214, 230, 238,
246, 265, 269, 295, 302, 303, hid-
ing out, 204, 206, madequacy, 13,
inaptitude for politics, 202, 213-
14, 222, m society, 164, insomnia,
46, 69, 110, 206, 209, 233, 252,
260, mterest m the tremor of awe,
26, mterruptions, 269, 291, 293,
interviews, 275, investments, 257,
itchmgs, 18, joy, 11, 13, lack of
interest in fame, 199, last words,
123, love, 4-5, manuscripts, 184,
marriage, 45, memory, 5-6, mod-
esty, 60, 243, 264, naturalist, 18-

19, 27, 65, 80, 87, 137-8, 193,
207-8, 215-16, 227, 232, 238,
246, 261, 276, need for affection,
189, 295, need to educate, 195,
nostalgia, 120, 165, novelist, 54,
oblique gait, 256, optimism, 280,
patriotism, 172, 223, "played out”
271, poet, 10, 238-9, pride, 138,
Protestantism, 85, reading, 13,
reason for writing, 295, refusal to
produce propaganda, 5, regrets,
51, 261, religious belief, 15-16,
82-3, 86, 105, 113-14, 154, 235-
6, 276-81, 304, scorn of the mo-
ment, 287-8, sensual pleasures,
239, 288, 302, serenity, 53, si-
lence, 6, 46, 171, sincerity, 48,
smoking, 13, 115, social question,

20, study of German, 28, 35, 46,
51,|$tudy of Latin, 243-4, 245,
246, 248, 253, 282, style, 100,

Gide, Andr6 ( continued )

272, suicide, 291, superstition,
170-1, sympathy, 55, taking leave
of himself, 243, torpor, 178, trans-
lations, 59, unpublished writings,
184, unrest, 53, unseasonableness,
268, voice, 117, writes for pos-
terity, 288

Gide, Catherme, 14, 64, 78-9, 81,
83, 84, 96-7, 105, 149, 265, 280,
289

Gide, Mme Andr6, see Em
Gilbert, G M , 302
Gill, 245

Gille, Philippe, 250 n
Gilloum, Rene, 102-3
Gmoles (Aude), 25, 27, 36, 37
Giono, Jean, 111

Giornale dell 9 Emilia-Bologna , 275
Giovom, 308-9
Girardot, Dr , 262
Giraud, General, 210
Giraudoux, Jean, 147, 284 n
Girodet-Tnoson, 219
Glotz, Gustave, 240-1
Gobillard, Paule, 179 n
Gobmeau, Joseph-Arthur de, 43, 94
God, 82, son of man, 54, 105, 113-
14, 199, 234, 264, 277-8, 289
Goebbels, Joseph, 302
Goethe, 17, 24, 26, 28, 33, 37, 41-2,
43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 52, 89, 94, 96,
97, 99, 123, 128, 144, 157, 168,
175-6, 190, 201, 248, 257
Gogol, Nicolai, 135
Goldsmith, Oliver, 170
Gondmet, Edmond, 250
Gospel, the, 24, 301
Gounod, Charles, 113
Gourmont, Remy de, 68, 267
Grammar, 86, 87, 110, 133, 222,
227, 246-7, 290, 297, 305
Granados, Enrique, 255
Grasse ( Alpes-Maritimes ) , 37, 83,
86, 88, 97, 296
Grasset, Bernard, 76, 80, 82
Green, Anne, 44 n
Green, Julien, 44 n, 166, 245

Index

vii

Grevisse, Maurice, 290
Grimm, Melchior, 65
Gnmmelshausen, Hans Jacob von,
59, 82

Groethuysen, Bernard, 42
Gros, Antome-Jean, 219
Gu&ion, Rene, 226
Guerm, Pierre-Narcisse, 219
GuiJlam, Alix, 291
Guillaumet, Henri, 298
Guizot, Francois, 191, 194, 228
Guttierez, Dr , 199, 214

H, 252

Haddou, Si, 229, 232
Hadrian, 191

Hammett, Dashiell, 115, 190-1, 193
Hardy, Thomas, 179, 181
Harlan, Veit, 98 n
Harris, 167

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 200
Haydn, Franz Joseph, 167
Hebbel, Friedrich, 47
Heme, Heinrich, 43 n
Hell, Henri, 270
Hemmgway, Ernest, 191, 198
Henriot, Emile, 101-2
Herbart, Pierre, 73, 265, 271, 285,
288, 289, 295, 296
Heredia, Jose-Maria de, 97
Heurgon, Anne, 240 n
Heurgon, Edith, 223
Huergon, Jacques, 218, 224, 235,
240 n

Hippier, Dr Fntz, 98 n
History, 126, 227

Hitler, Adolf, 16, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30,
35, 36, 47, 51, 56-8, 59, 66, 156,
167, 171, 173, 187, 193, 213,
222 n, 225, 244, 268, 303
Hitlerism, 5, 19
Hoffmann, Karl Adolf, 106
Hogg, James, 245
Holbach, Baron d\ 65
Holderhn, Johann Christian Fried-
rich, 46, 126

Homosexuality, 87, 184 n, 293-4
Horace, 152 n, 246, 253

Hueffer, Ford Madox, 188
Hugo, Frangois- Victor, 119
Hugo, Victor, 6, 10, 43, 58, 93, 94,
121 n, 123, 165, 167, 168, 250,
270, 305
Hugues, 40
Humamtariamsm, 207
Hume, David, 65
Huxley, Aldous, 87, 212
Huxley, Julian, 270
Hyeres-Plage (Var), 271
Hytier, Jean, 219

Ibsen, Henrik, 41, 163
Idea, history of an, 106
Immortality, 86, 281, 300-2
India, 102, 288

Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Domimque, 94,
242

Inonu, Ismet, 166

Integrity of the writer, 191

Interest, 179

Istrati, Panait, 22

Italian forces, 139, 140, 163, 164

Italy, 236

Jacques, Lucien, 5
Jammes, Francis, 184, 250, 304
Janm, Jules, 43 n
Jarry, Aldred, 285 n
Jeanne, 160, 176-7, 183, 186, 192
Jelhcoe, Viscount, 220
Jews, 141, 144, 244, 285-6, 294
Johnson, Samuel, 142-3, 157, 163
166, 168, 170, 175-6
Joos, Kurt, 197 n
Joubm, Louis, 61
Journal de Gen&ve, 102-3
Journalism, 112, 287—8
Jouve, Pierre-Jean, 119
Joyce, James, 111-12
Junger, Ernst, 134-5, 190

K, M, 124

Kafka, Franz, 42, 107, 212, 257, 265
Karnak (Egypt), 265
Kavafis, Constantin, 46
Keats, John, 175

Vlll

Index

Keller, Gottfried, 228
Khartoum (Egypt), 261
Kleist, Heinrich von, 124, 126, 127,
128-9

Koestler, Arthur, 59, 267-8
Krauss, Werner, 98 n
Kruif, Paul de, 51-2

L,J,21
L , Jean, 293

La Bo^tie, Etienne de, 118
Laclos, Choderlos de, 266
La Croix (Var), 65, 79, 110
La Fayette, Mme de, 266
La Fontame, Jean de, 3-4, 6, 14 n,
77-8, 103, 171-2, 205, 208, 209,
215-16, 230, 233, 236, 243
Lago di Garda (Italy), 291
Lamalou-les-Bains (Herault), 70
La Marsa (Tunisia), 114
Lamartine, Alphonse de, 43, 93,
121 n

Lambert, Jean, 118
Lamennais, Felicite Robert de, 43,
222

La Messuguiere (Cabns), 14, 37,
40, 91

La Mettne, Julien de, 65
Landowska, Wanda, 31-2
Larbaud, Valery, 13 n
La Rochefoucauld, Frangois de,
178 n, 185, 304

La Roque-Baignard (Calvados), 120,
216, 289
Larousse, 216
Lassaigne, Jacques, 231 n
Last, Jef, 291
Last moments, 295
Last words, 296
Latour, Georges de, 290
La Tourette (Allier), 20-1
Laurens, Paul-Albert, 204
Laurens, Pierre, 113, 204
Lavoisier ? Antome-Laurent, 92
Leander, Zarah, 98 n
L4autaud, Paul, 266-7
Leclerc, General, 158-9, 199-200,
217

Le Clercq, Jacques, 240 n
Lecomte du Nouy, Pierre, 108
Leconte de Lisle, Charles, 66-7
Lefevre, Ren6, 40
Leisure, 257
Lemaitre, Jules, 172
Lenin, 91

Leopardi, Giacomo, 218

Le Puy (Haute-Loire), 21

Lenche, Rene, 284-5

Lesage, Alain-Rene, 10, 22

Les Audides, 65, 296

Lessing, Gotthold, 99

Lettres frangaises , Les , 247, 297

Levesque, Robert, 46, 255, 260

Levy, 154, 156, 179

Liberation of Turns, 209-10

Liberty, 58-9, 114

Linnaeus, 252

Literary taste, 44

Literature as a weapon, 248, 309

Littr6, Emile, 68, 245, 253, 305

Locarno (Switzerland), 295

Loeche-les-Bams ( Switzerland) , 70

Loti, Pierre, 39

Louis XIV, 77

Lourdes ( Hautes-Pyrenees ) , 272
Louys, Pierre, 125, 195
Lucretius, 236, 283
Ludendorff, General, 106
Lunacharsky, Anatoly, 43
Luxor (Egypt), 255, 261
Lyautey, Marshal Loms-Hubert, 219
Lyon (Rhone), 62

MacLeod, Enid, 269
Madelon , La, 22
Mamtenon, Mme de, 77
Maistre, 200-1
Maistre, Joseph de, 94, 181
Malaquais, Jean, 73
Malatesta, Sigismondo, 290
Malebranche, Nicolas de, 252
Malherbe, Francois de, 126
MaUarm4, Stephana, 10, 72, 287
Mallet, Robert, 184 n
Malxaux, Andre, 62, 82, 115, 191,
205-6, 242-3, 265, 290

Index

ix

Man and nature, 35
Manchester Guardian , 247
Manet, Edouard, 261
Mangm, General, 219
Mann, Thomas, 51, 190
Mantegna, Andrea, 270
Marguentte, Victor, 26 n
Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Cham-
blain de, 23, 241, 266
Marmontel, Jean-Frangois, 166
Marseille ( Bouches-du-Rhone ) , 36,
106, 109, 271

Martm du Gard, Helene, 7-9
Martm du Gard, Maurice, 256, 259
Martm du Gard, Roger, 7-9, 15, 34,
49, 98-9, 102, 107, 118, 126, 134,
148, 152, 197, 245, 265, 269, 271,
272, 285, 303
Martyrs, 254
Massis, Henri, 49, 60, 256
Materialism and spiritualism, 32
Mauclair, Camille, 102, 256
Maulmer, Thierry, 121
Mauriac, Claude, 3 On
Mauriac, Frangois, 30 n, 86 n, 235,
245, 246-7, 290
Maurois, Andr6, 220
Maurois, Gerald, 84, 88
Maurras, Charles, 6, 181, 198
Maynsch de Samt-Hubert, Mme, 14,
40-1, 43, 50

Meckert, Jean, 104, 111-12
Menton (Alpes-Maritimes), 21
Mercure de France , Le, 266
Merezhkovski, Dmitn, 113
Mers-el-Kebir (Algeria), 29, 34, 38,
134

MSthode pour arnver d la vie bien -
heureuse , 226
Michaux, Henn, 69
Michelangelo, 71
Mill, John Stuart, 245
Mmos, 45-6, 241
Misprints, 223
Misserey, Dr , 120
Mistral, Frederic, 93-4
Mohammed, 229
Moh&re, 39 n, 71, 94, 273

Moltke, General von, 106
Mondzam, 248

Montaigne, Michel de, 12, 17, 94,
116, 118, 143, 144, 172, 178 n,
190 n, 257

Montesquieu, Charles Louis de
Secondat de, 65, 76-7, 78, 100,
194, 240, 241, 242
Montesquieu, Gaston de, 76 n
Montherlant, Henry de, 68, 132,
249, 290

Montsabert, General de, 244
Mopp&s, Demse van, 59
Monze, Philippe, 237, 238
Morphine, 13
Mortimer, Raymond, 245
Morveau, 92
Moslems, 32 n

Mougins (Alpes-Mantimes), 296
Mourner, Emmanuel, 85
Movies, 90-1, 97, 98, 100-1, 233
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 31
Muhlfeld, Lucien, 131
Mury, Gilbert, 249
Music, 112-13

Musset, Alfred de, 39, 41, 43 n, 82,
288-9

Mussolini, Bemto, 135, 136, 244
Mythology, 253

Nabeul (Tunisia), 145, 146
Nag Hamadi, 262
Naples (Italy), 255
Napoleon, 75

Naville, Arnold, 21, 22, S3, 34, 184,
257

Nelson, Admiral, 220
Nerval, Gerard de, 120-1
NeucMtel (Switzerland), 275, 282
Neuville, Alphonse Mane Adolphe
de, 22

Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), 17, 21, 37,
64, 96, 97, 99, 111, 119, 283, 296,
297

Nicholas, M , 6

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 6, 16, 23, 49,
50, 94, 129, 171-2, 250
Nisus, 298

X

Index

Noailles, Anna de, 250
Nobel Prize, 275, 291
Nominalism, 279
Non-resistance, 288
Nouvelle Revue Frangaise, 6 n, 10,
36, 40, 53, 55, 142 n, 221-2,
231 n, 247 n, 281, 284, 292

Oase , Die, 212
Ohana, Maurice, 255
Olivier, Sir Laurence, 268—70
Oran (Algeria), 29
Ordzhonikidze (USSR), 260
Originality, 289
Ovid, 249

Paganini, Nicol6, 296
Palewski, Gaston, 219 n
Pantellena, 221
Paris, 26, 62

Pascal, Blaise, 94, 172, 178, 179,
180, 186, 187, 201, 249
Pascoli, Giovanni, 275
Pasiphae, 46, 223
Pasquier, 255
Passeur, St&ve, 274
Past, the, 79

Patn, Aim4, 176, 197, 214
Patriotism, 32, 308
Paulhan, Germame, 36
Paulhan, Jean, 36, 104, 111-112,
247, 265

Peace and War, 244
Peguy, Charles, 44-5, 66, 94, 260,
283

P6rez, Charles, 141, 149
Perfection and limitation, 39
Persecution, 254-5, 294
Pessonneaux, Emile, 298
P6tain, Henri-Philippe, 23, 24, 28,
124, 126, 150, 157, 221
Piano, 85, 97-8, 143, 287
Picard, Charles, 240
Pinson, Mme, 239
Pirenne, Henri, 82
Pistor, Fernand, 217
Plato, 293-4
Pleiade Collection, 190
Pleven, Ren6, 219 n

Pliny the younger, 118
Poesie 41, 78
Polishing style, 259
Pompeio, 254
Postwar, 10, 192
Pourtal&s, Guy de, 119
Prado, Juan de, 294
Prague (Czechoslovakia), 23
Prayer, 18

Provost, Abb6, 266 n
Proceedings of the Provisional Con-
sultative Assembly, 308-9
Progress, 37, 61, 127-8, 307
Pronunciation, 245
Proofreading, 72-3
Propaganda, 91, 98, 133, 135, 144,
150, 157, 163, 166, 171, 173, 181,
189, 206, 213, 249
Protestantism, 39, 172, 244
Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph, 94
Proust, Marcel, 120, 274 n, 287-8,
297

Proverbs of Hell, 44, 60
Puget, Pierre, 71

Quietism, 83
Quillan (Aude), 36
Quintus Curtius, 248

Rabat (Morocco), 307
Rabelais, Francois, 127, 239, 240,
241, 244

Racine, Jean, 3, 6, 61, 64, 74, 75-6,
79, 81, 86, 94, 100, 119, 124, 271,
272

Radio, 25

Ragu, Dr , 126, 133, 136 n, 142, 145,
146, 160, 163, 173, 179, 181, 198,
212, 213-14, 216
Ragu, Mme, 115

Ranee, Abb<§ Armand de, 103, 104
Rauschnmg, Hermann, 173
Ravaillac, 115
Ravel, Maurice, 22
Raynaud, Pierre, 237
Reading meaning mto a work, 297-8
Rebatet, Lucien, 179, 181
Refugees, 21

XI

Index

Religions, 289
Renaissance latme, 181
Renan, Ernest, 11, 22, 51, 67 n , 82,
125, 127, 275, 284, 287, 295-6
Renaud, Madeleine, 109-10
Rendina, Massimo, 275
Renoir, Auguste, 261
Repetition, 4
Resistance, 55

Restrictions, 31, 142, 146, 149, 151,
162, 164, 166, 176, 186, 205
Retz, Cardinal de, 77, 103
Revue Blanche , La, 267
Revue de Pans , La, 38
Reymond, Mme Theo, 158
Reymond, Suzy, 125
Reymond, Th6o, 115, 119, 140, 143,
148, 182

Reynaud, Paul, 22
Rhadamanthus, 45-6
Rilke, Rainer Maria, 212
Rimbaud, Arthur, 44, 190 n
Rivarol, Antoine, 207
Riviere, Jacques, 292
Robert, M , 229, 232
Rodenbach, Georges, 131
Rcederer, Pierre-Louis, 117
Rome (Italy), 64, 236, 246
RomiEy, Sir Samuel, 65
Rommel, General, 141, 156, 158,
164, 176, 193, 213
Ronsard, Pierre de, 121 n
Roosevelt, F D , 141, 153, 177, 193
Rosenberg, F6dor, 68
Rostand, Jean, 15, 17
Rothermere, Lady, 283
Rotter, the, 254
Rougemont, Denis de, 249
Roumens, Mme, 36
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 65, 102,
103, 141, 143, 144, 156, 194
Rouveyre, Andr6, 13, 266
Roy, Jules, 125
Rubinstein, Ida, 197 n
Rude, Frangois, 45

S, E, 169
S , Mme de, 178

Sacrifice of the best, 203
Sade, Marquis de, 65
Saillet, Maurice, 33
Samt-Barnabe (Alpes-Maritimes), 20
Saint-Clair, 280

Samte-Beuve, Augustin, 43 n, 116,
118, 178, 179, 181, 186, 194
Saint-Evremond, Charles de Saint-
Denys de, 50, 271, 282-3
Saint Exupery, Antoine de, 218
Saint-Louis (Senegal), 261
Samt-Priest, Comte de, 181
Saint-Simon, Due de, 224-5
Salacrou, Armand, 274
Sallust, 245, 246, 248, 253
Sand, George, 43, 68
Sardou, Victorien, 163
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 110, 247, 258, 262,
267, 274, 275, 285, 286, 288
Saucier, Roland, 119
Scarlatti, Domenico, 255
Sc&ve, Maurice, 121
Schiffrm, Jacques, 190, 285
Schiller, Friedrich von, 123, 198, 228
Schlepalberger, 302
Schlumberger, Jean, 40-1, 54, 58,
60, 81, 118, 148, 190, 265, 291,
292

Schumann, Robert, 143
Schwob, Marcel, 119, 264
Science, 114
Scott, Walter, 200, 205
Scouts, 260

Sebastopol (USSR), 125
Seghers, Pierre, 78 »

Self-indulgence, 280
Sensual pleasure, 53
Setif (Algeria), 125
Shakespeare, 40, 110, 117, 118, 119,
121, 129, 145, 173, 202-3, 203-4,
205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 215, 227,
243, 244, 254, 265, 268-9, 270
Shaw, George Bernard, 124, 159,
163, 269
Shchedrin, N , 83

Sidi-bou-Said (Tunisia), 110, 113,
114, 117, 119, 120, 140, 160, 185
Siena (Italy), 244

Xll

Index

Siller, Fraulein, 99
Simenon, Georges, 75, 117, 231, 265,
284, 285, 287
Sincerity, 289
Singapore, 102
Smollett, Tobias, 10, 22, 244
Social question, 20, 293
Socrates, 294
S O L , 69
Sologub, Fyodor, 83
Somerville, Vice-Admiral, 29 n
Soupault, Philippe, 217, 218
Sparrow, Mme, 133, 145, 146, 150,
173, 212, 214
Spender, Stephen, 270
Spmoza, Baruch, 65, 294
Spontaneity, 100
Spring, 12, 62, 106, 304
Stalin, Joseph, 153, 159, 174, 187,
189, 193, 251
Stalingrad (USSR ), 167
Stembeck, John, 48, 79, 212, 233,
236

Stendhal (pseud of Henri Beyle),
41, 77, 90, 100, 137, 201, 218,
224, 241, 266
Stevenson, R L , 228
Stillborn child, 298-300
Stravinsky, Igor, 197 n
Strohl, Jean, 19, 65
Style, 4, 224-5

Suares, Andr£, 39, 284 n, 287-8
Sudermann, Hermann, 98 n
Suffren, General, 234
Surrealism, 259, 284 n
Sustermans, Justus, 300
Swift, Jonathan, 168
Switzerland, 71
Syntax, 68
Syracuse (Italy), 83

Tacitus, 100
TaiHefer, Germaine, 85
Tebourba (Tunisia), 236
Temps , Le, 21, 33-4
Temps nouveaux, 85-6
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 200
Thebes (Egypt), 262

Thenve, Andre, 38

Thibaud, Jacques, 112

Thomas, Henri, 33, 35, 46

Thomson, 92

Thucydides, 58, 60

Tiberius, 126

Tissot, M de, 69

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 221

Tolstoy, Leo, 62, 83, 84

Tomlinson, Henry Major, 47

Tom del Benaco (Italy), 294-5

Totalitarianism, 263

Toulon (Var), 133-4

Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), 254

Tourneur, Cyril, 3

Tourmer, 111, 125

Toumier, Jean, 133, 146, 214, 217

Trechmann, E J, 143 n

Treitschke, Heinrich von, 75

True, Gonzague, 60

Truth, 11, 52

Trystram, Jean-Paul, 262, 263
Tunis (Tunisia), 106, 110, 111, 122,
125, 146, 286
Tunisia, 236

Tums-Journal, 156, 174, 212

Untone , 162
Unrest, 187
Unsubmissive, the, 264
US and U S S R , 222 n
U S Foreign Policy, 244
U S S R , 43, 251, 309

V, 177, 178
V , Mme, 196
Valence (Drdme), 21
Valensm, Auguste, 293-4
Valery, Jeanme, 107, 179 n
Valery, Paul, 74-5, 94, 107-8, 157,
172, 178-9, 184, 199, 220, 221,
265, 274, 282, 283, 285 n, 287-8,
289, 290, 295, 301
Vallotton, F61ix~£douard, 267
Van Dme, S S , 108
Van Gogh, Vincent, 261
Vamm, 254-5

Van Rysselberghe, Elisabeth, 15, 79,
81, 98, 148-9, 269

Index

Van Rysselberghe, Mme Theo, 13,
15, 17, 60, 79, 81, 119, 124, 148,
152, 197, 255, 265, 271, 275, 289,
296

Varese, Louise, 241 n
Vence (Alpes-Maritimes), 14, 15,
17, 18, 19, 21, 26, 35, 40, 304
Vercors, 267 n
Verlaine, Paul, 22, 259
Versailles Treaty, 25, 303
Versification, 71-2
Vichy (Allier), 21, 33, 35, 66, 73 n,
308

Vico, Giambattista, 108
Victor, 137, 143-4, 147, 150, 151,
152-3, 154-5, 155-6, 157-8, 159,
160, 164, 167, 169, 173-4, 176-7,
179, 180-1, 183, 192, 194^5, 196,
199, 214
Vienot, Pierre, 75
Vigny, Alfred de, 200
Vildrac, Charles, 248
Villalier (Aude), 36
Vdleneuvedes- Avignon (Gard), 78n
Viollet-le-Duc, Eugene, 205
Virgil, 86 n, 122, 236, 244, 245, 246,
248, 249, 253, 255, 262, 270-1,
282-3, 295, 298, 300-1
Virginia Quarterly Review , 266
Visan, Tancrede de, 250
Voiher, Mme, 265

xm

Volland, Sophie, 243
Voltaire, 65, 104, 115, 156, 194

W, 216

Wadi Haifa (Egypt), 260, 261
Warsaw (Poland), 23, 246
Watteau, Antoine, 31, 308
Webster, John, 227-8
Wilde, Oscar, 164
Wilson, John Dover, 121
Witt-Guizot, Frangois de, 194, 289
Wolf, Theodor, 96
Woolf, Virginia, 218

X, 43, 78, 113, 177, 205, 276, 281,
285

X, Father, 116

X , Mme, 204-5, 257

Y, 281

Young, Archibald, 284 n
Yourcenar, Marguerite, 46
Youth, 33-4, 263

Z , 177, 285
Zaborowski, S , 255
Zeitung of Turns, 150

Zola, Emile, 25, 26-7, 38, 147, 156,
266

Zuckerkandl, Mme Berthe, 310
Zweig, Stefan, 284

THE WORKS OF ANDRE GIDE
Referred to in The Journals

Adaptation of Le Proces, 265
Amyntas, 272

Anthologie de la poesie frangatse ,
42, 61, 89, 169, 176, 273, 293, 303
Attendu que , 234
Billets d Angele , 60 n
Caves du Vatican > Les , 184, 240
Corydon , 130-1, 256, 272, 275
DScouvrons Henri Michaux , 69
Dzew, fils de Fhomme, 234
Dmdiki > 135

Dix Romans frangais que , Les, 266
Dostoievsky , 44 n

Faux-Monnayeurs, Les ? 153, 272,
297

Feuillets dautomne , 252 n, 266 n
Genevieve , 83, 297
Immoraliste , L’, 33
Incidences , 60 n

Interviews imagmaires, 63 n, 89,
165 n, 234 n, 267 n
Isabelle , 273

Journal 6, 13, 17, 18, 32, 37, 42,
46-7, 53-4, 64, 79, 90, 101, 105-
6, 108-9, 110 n, 119-20, 169, 178,
184, 185, 190 n, 205, 219, 228,
230, 231, 264, 266, 267, 271, 272,
274, 282, 306, 307
Justice ou chantS , 252
Nourntures terrestres , Les, 196-7,
223, 262, 264

Nouvelles Nourntures , Les, 196-7
Numqmd et tu P, 234, 267,
282 n

Ptfges de journal , 249
Paludes , 274
PersSphone , 197
PoStique , 89 n
Porte Stroite , La, 272
Preface au Thedtre de Goethe, 89,
97, 99

PromSthSe mal enchainS, Le, 57 n,
240

Retouches & mon Retour de
WRSS, 251

Retour de Tenfant prodigue, Le, 51,
55, 250

Retowr deVURSS , 224 n, 251, 275,
288

Robert ou Tmteret genSral, 6, 224,
297

Said, 207

Sequestree de Poitiers, La, 155 n,
208 n

Si le gram ne meurt , 42, 119
Souoerars de Za Cowr d Assises, Les,
288

Symphonic pastorale. La, 226, 250
Tentative amoureuse. La, 218
Thesee, 45-6, 113, 240
Traite du narcisse, Le, 33
Translation of Antony and Cleo-
patra, 119

Translation of Hamlet, 118, 119, 122,
265

Voyage au Congo, Le, 184